Fire Eater
by dragonkid27
Summary: When a mission goes wrong and Soul takes a hit for Maka he ends up with more than just a scar. He ends up with 2-tons of scales, claw, and fire more. Will Soul ever be human again or will he be stuck a dragon? Rated T for language and violence. My 1st multi-chapter story. Warning: Its very long.
1. Chapter 1

An Author's Introduction – My first fan fic! (Huzzah!) I'm not entirely sure how many chapters this story shall be, but many shall it be! (Huzzah!) I'm not sure how often I'll get around to updating this story so please bear with me.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Soul Eater (sad face).

Chapter 1

"Maka! This is so stupid! Why do we have to go on an extra mission on a Saturday? A Saturday! Why not during the week so we can miss so school? But no! It had to be a Saturday! The one day of the week that I get to sleep in and you schedule us for a mission that leaves at five in the freaking morni-"

But Soul was cut off by a swift Maka chop before he could finish. He had been complaining constantly ever since she had woken him up and announced that they were heading out on a mission. "Come on Soul. We're already here," she announced as they reached the top of the stairs to the school. Not surprisingly, they were the first ones of their group to arrive. After a few minutes Kidd, Liz, and Patty arrived and they were followed soon after by Tsubaki and a very sleepy Blackstar. Finally Stein, the head of their expedition team, arrived and once he was sure he had their attention he started briefing them over the mission.

"I'm glad to see we have a tough team for today because this mission will most likely be dangerous and we may encounter some rough spots. Now we'll-"

"So where are we going anyway?" Blackstar interrupted sleepily.

"Yeah, a cool guy like me doesn't wake up early on the weekend for some half-assed mission," Soul added.

Stein sighed. "If you would listen and quit interrupting then I would tell you," he replied exasperatedly. "I will dissect the next person to interrupt me," he added in a level tone, causing the group to shrink back from his crazed smile. "Now as I was saying," he continued, "we'll be investigating a suspected witch's house today."

At the sound of a witch's house the teen's eyes lit up. Three of them still needed to collect witches' souls and with the possibility of a witch there was the possibility of one of them being a giant step closer to death scythe status.

*A/N: Based off of anime from after the Kishin and Maka and Soul have already received death scythe status.

"The house is hidden a little ways outside of the city in the forest so we'll be taking the closest gate on that side of the city to leave through," Stein continued in a rather bored voice. "We'll be gone for almost the rest of the day so I'm giving you an hour to go home and pack water and any other provisions you may need for the rest of the day. When your hour is up meet me at the far west gate to the city. Oh! And if anyone is late we'll be leaving without you and both you and your partner will receive a failing grade," the professor added nonchalantly before turning and walking slowly back down the tall stair case that led to the school.

"He's kidding right?" Maka asked nervously. She couldn't receive a failing grade, it would ruin her reputation as a top mark student!

"I don't think so…" Kidd added sulkily. "After all, a witch's soul is a big deal."

"Come on Soul!" Maka yelled as she grabbed her partner and started to drag him down the stairs, "We need to go pack!" The others started to walk down the stairs and watched until the sound of Soul and Maka's bickering couldn't be heard anymore.

"And I'm going to be the one to kill the witch so Tsubaki can become a death scythe and I'LL HAVE SURPASSED THE GODS!" Blackstar yelled, fully awake and attentive at once. "Don't worry Tsubaki," Blackstar said as he turned to his partner, "You can count on Blackstar to turn you into a death scythe in no time!" He grinned.

"I'm sure I can," Tsubaki said sweetly as she smiled back at her partner.

They were at the bottom of the stairs now and the two teams split their separate ways towards their houses.

"Hey big sis! Do you think we'll get to fight any monsters or ghosts at the witch's house?" Patty asked excitedly. "Maybe her house is a scary lab were she does al kinds of experiments!" Patty giggled.

Liz let out a small scream of fright before replying nervously. "I hope not Patty. Maybe it'll be one of those cute little cottages that you wouldn't think belonged to a witch. Or maybe it'll be one like out of that story where the house was made all out of candy!" Liz said more confidently.

"But big sis," Patty interrupted, "didn't the kids get eaten in that story?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot." Liz said, bowing her head in defeat.

"I doubt that it will be like any of those," Kidd butted in. "It probably won't be a tight fortress like Baba Yaga's castle either; that would be too noticeable. What we're looking for will probably be a small and inconspicuous. Anything else so close to Death City would have come up on our radar a long time ago. Now come on you two, we have to get home and pack."

***An hour later outside of the west gate***

_Approximately 6:30_

The teens were all awake now as they stood alone beneath the tall arched gateway. Patty was laughing at something that had caused Liz to shiver and Kidd was busy admiring the symmetry of the gate. They were the first ones there even though Maka, Soul, and Stein had left first because their house was the closest, but it wasn't long before the rest of the group joined them. Now they were just waiting on Stein. Most of them had only had time to pack a quick lunch and snack for later before making the long trek across the city to their appointed meeting place.

"Ironically, Stein is the one who warned us all not to be late and here he is, the last person we're waiting on. That's just not cool at all." Soul grumbled. "If he was intending to meet here until 6:30 all along then he could have told us to meet him here at 6:30 instead of at the DWMA at 5:00."

"Stop whining Soul. We're here now. I'm Professor Stein will be here any minute." Maka scolded.

"But you have to admit that Soul is right Maka," Blackstar said as he walked up. "The crazy professor could have saved a lot of time by just telling us to meet him here and by telling us yesterday that we would need to pack food and water for the day."

"Well…," Maka said unsurely. She had to admit that their argument made sense, but still…maybe the professor had a reason for waking them all up so early. Kidd and the sisters walked up to join the discussion. "We could ask him why when he gets here," she stated unsurely. It didn't sound like a very good idea.

"Ask who what?" A familiar voice came from behind the group.

They all jumped backwards in surprise to stare at Stein, who had walked up behind them while they were talking.

"Why you made us get up so damn early." Blackstar said bluntly, a bored expression on his face.

Oh well that's a simple one," Stein said evenly. "I just wanted to mess with you all." They all stared back at him and he smiled before adding, "also, I didn't want any of you to be half asleep when we get the witch's house. It's dangerous enough as it is walking onto a witch's territory while awake. I wasn't interested in finding out what would happen if I sent students who were asleep on their feet into such a situation; I already know what the outcome would be." They looked slightly less offended at this statement.

"Psh. I could beat a witch in my sleep!" Blackstar piped up.

"And that's exactly the type of thinking that will get you killed if you go charging into battle with a witch today." Stein retorted. "Now come on. If we get going now then we should reach the witch's house just before noon." And with that they set off.

***Noon, witch's house***

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Soul asked doubtingly. "It looks a bit off."

What they were standing in front of was something that none of them would consider a house in the slightest. It was a cave. No, even that seemed like too nice a label for it. It was a rough entrance into the side of the mountain that continued into darkness. From standing outside the mouth of the cave they could see tattered paper and broken bones covered the floor.

"Yep, this is the place." Stein said casually as he took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it, quietly thinking to himself.

"It's so…unsymmetrical!" Kidd yelled.

"Kidd be quite or else the witch is going to hear us," Maka scolded.

"Let the witch come!" Blackstar yelled back. "I'll defeat her then take her Soul!"

"-Symmetry-"

"-Surpassing the gods-"

"Maka…chop!"

Soul looked at the two meisters now cowering on the ground holding their heads as if they might split into two if either removed their hands for a second. How uncool…

The sudden quite pulled Stein from his thoughts and back into the present. "Actually, I never said that we'd be fighting a witch to day. I said we would be inspecting what was thought to be a witch's house, possibly one of Medusa's secret hole's from when she was undercover at Shibusen, and that we would be traveling through potential witch territory. I never said that we'd actually be fighting a witch today." Stein clarified.

"You woke us up early for a _high class_ mission so that you could look at some dusty papers?" Soul asked angrily. "Couldn't you have done that on your own, and I dunno maybe NOT BY WASTING OUR SATURDAY?"

Stein seemed to ignore Soul's questions and instead turned to Maka and Kid. "You two both have the ability of soul perception, even if Maka's is stronger than yours Kidd. If a witch lived here her strong soul would have left some kind of imprint or residue, even under soul protect it would have left a small imprint. Tell me, can you find any trace of a witch?"

The two turned and squinted at the cave before Maka replied, "Yeah. I can see wait traces of a witches soul in and around the cave." It took Kidd a few more moments before he slowly began to nod his head in agreement. "But it's not Medusa's." Maka added now. "The wavelength is very similar magic to hers, but is still different from Medusa's."

"Excellent perception." Stein said. "You're right in saying its not Medusa's wavelength. It was probably a witch sent by the witches' council to keep an eye on her though. Only the souls of very powerful witches will leak through soul protect when they stay in one place for too long, but judging by the spiritual pressure here I'd say that that witch is long gone."

"Damn. I guess today isn't the day I surpass the gods and turn Tsubaki into a death scythe." Blackstar said, slightly hurt.

"Well if we weren't going to fight a witch, which would make sense for Soul and Maka to be here because Soul is already a death scythe, then why did you bring us out here professor?" Tsubaki asked curiously.

Maka mental gave herself a face palm. '_Of course there wasn't a witch! Why would they need to come if there was?_' she thought to herself.

'_Uh-oh_," Soul thought. '_Maka's got that face she gets when she's frustrated that she missed something. He had better start thinking of an excuse to tell her for when they got home for why she missed the obvious fact that they already had a witch's soul or else he wouldn't hear the end of it for the rest of the weekend. Think. Think. They were tired! Anyone who gets up at 4:30 in the morning can't be expected to be thinking straight. He was saved_!' Soul smirked and closed his eyes, putting his hands behind his head as he stretched.

"The reason I brought you all here is because the situation is potentially very dangerous and retrieval mission such as this could only be completed by very high level weapons and meisters, which is why you were all 'offered' positions on this mission. Even if you had refused we would have forced to accept the mission."

"So then what are we looking for anyway?" Maka asked, turning to look back at the cave.

"Who cares?" Blackstar shrugged before Stein could answer. "They just dragged us out here for some stupid treasure hunt in an old cave. If it was dangerous we would have been attacked or hit a trap by now, but here we are safe and sound outside a witch's lair."

The group turned to look at Blackstar who had just made the most that they had ever heard him say as they recalled the many traps that had surrounded Baba Yaga Castle.

Stein took in a deep breath and breathed out a long puff of smoke before answering. "Blackstar is right when he said it's different situation from when we attacked Arachnophobia's base, but it's not the place we're hunting that's dangerous." He breathed another wisp of smoke before continuing. "It's the item."

Patty let out a loud laugh and they all turned to stare at her. She was chasing a butterfly. Liz was chasing after Patty yelling how it wasn't safe to be running off into the forest alone before she finally managed to tackle her sister and drag her back to the rest of the group as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. It hadn't.

"Don't mind us." Liz smiled as she held a struggling Patty who was now desperately trying to break free to terrorize a bunny that had just hopped out from a bush before it ran away.

"As I was saying," Stein continued, "the weapon we're hunting for is rated very dangerous. We're not yet sure the nature of this weapon or what it is yet, but knowing that it was created by a witch with a wavelength similar to Medusa's is enough to the academy on alert. Proceed with caution and _DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING_ before you're sure what it does." Stein warned.

Sensing the gravity of the situation, the team turned and started to file through the mouth of the cave, Stein in the lead with a bright green flare held aloft in one hand so they could see. The weapons filed in next to their meisters by instinct, ready to transform at a moments notice.

From the outside the cave looked like a small shelter chiseled out of the rock face, but once inside they could see the mouth continued down a long tunnel that lead deep into the belly of the mountain. The darkness pressed in around them and if it had not been for the eerie light that the flair had been giving off then they would have been lost in the darkness. The air was cool and dank. Maka could feel the heat radiating from Soul, who was walking next to her. She noticed that the way he was walking was tensed and alert and alert towards the darkness surrounding them and that he was standing up straight in attention rather than his usual relaxed slouch.

After a few minutes of walking the skinny tunnel opened up into a wide cavern that left them speechless. The walls of the large room were lined with shelves that towered above them and contained a variety of peeling books and jars filled suspicious goops and creatures. Deep silver marking were etched all over the room causing Stein's single flair to light the entire room with ease. Even Professor Stein, she noticed, seemed a slight bit taken aback by the advanced study, which could have fit his classroom in it with room to spare.

"So what exactly did you say we were looking for again?" Blackstar asked as he eyed the daunting bookshelves.

"Could be anything," Stein said casually as he readjusted his glasses. "Assuming we can rule out all of the books for now, that narrows our search down to a couple hundred glasses jars, and vials. We'll have to send another recovery team to retrieve all of this stuff once we remove the weapon."

"But it'll take days to look through all this stuff," Maka wondered aloud. "Even by eliminating books it's still so…huge."

"Well yes, I think huge would accurately describe the mess we're in." Soul said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes and resumed his regular bad posture.

Maka scowled, but said nothing. She was fighting the urge to grab the nearest book, which was a thick and lethal-looking hardback, and to bring it swinging down on her partner's head.

"Well then I guess we had better get started searching." Kidd said in surrender as he started to walk towards the nearest bookcase with Liz and Patty, who was busy asking her older sister if a giraffe would fit in the giant room; it was very obvious that many giraffes could fit with ease in the large room. As he walked away everyone could hear Kidd muttering something about being "disgusted by the utter garbage" and how the entire place was "a mockery of symmetry" but his partners were too busy to really be listening to his rambling. The team quietly dispersed, but not before Stein had reminded them one more time not to go sticking their noses into anything that were unsure about. Blackstar scoffed and walked off towards the far side of the room with Tsubaki and Stein went to investigate a giant desk that sat off to one side off the room, leaving Soul and Maka alone at the entrance to the large library. Maka turned to the bookshelf on the opposite side from where Kidd and the sisters were and started striding towards it.

Soul grimaced. Knowing his careful meister, she would probably deem everything dangerous and have Stein review it. He sighed. Guess it couldn't be helped. He ran to catch up with Maka who was already examining a tall bookshelf.

It all happened to fast for him to react properly. He saw bottle shut tight with a fat cork resting on the edge of sitting shelve high above, Maka dislodging a stubborn book from the bookcase, sending a shiver up the shelves, the bottle tilt and plummet over the edge. He leapt forward and shoved Maka out of the way, his sudden movement drawing the attention of everyone else, as the bottle crashed down on his head and shattered.

He instantly regretted it.

He was now covered from head to foot in warm, sticky liquid that smelled strongly of what he felt safe assume was sulfur and cinnamon. The smell made him cringe his nose in disgust as it continued to drip down his saturated clothes.

"Soul!" Maka yelped as she got to her feet and the rest of their team ran over to see what had happened.

The smell was now giving him a headache and the liquid felt like it was burning itself into his skin, but when he looked down at his arms they looked fine. He had fallen when the bottle hit his head, but when Maka reached out a hand to help him up Stein quickly pulled her back.

"We don't know what that was yet," he said strictly. "No one else can be contaminated with it." Then he turned towards Soul. "How are felling?"

"The bottle shattered on impact so it didn't really scratch my head," he replied, "But I do have a splitting headache now from the swell and the liquid burns…no burns isn't the right worn, its more of it tingles and makes my skin feel kind of numb." He answered nervously.

"Then you lucky," Stein answered. "From what you told me it does sound like a corrosive or dangerous element, but we still need to get you checked out." He stood contemplating for a minute before coming to a conclusion. "Soul, I am going to give you this flair," he said as he pulled another from his pocket and handed the first flair to Soul carefully so that he didn't get any liquid on him. He lit the second flair and continued. "You are to stay here while the rest of us go to get water to rinse this off with from ours bags that we left out front. Because of how shallow the cave is, if you yell for anything than we should be able to hear you without any problem, even from outside. We'll be back in less than five minutes." And with that the professor stood up and motioned for everyone else to follow him.

"I'm staying here with Soul." Maka said, not moving.

"Maka we don't know anything about the effects or the fumes from whatever was in that bottle. It's not safe for you to stay here without us knowing those things." Stein reasoned.

"Go on Maka, I'll be fine." Soul said from his position on the floor.

She looked at him doubtingly, but finally gave in to the reassurance of her friends.

Soul watched as the group slowly disappeared down the hall, leaving him alone with the flair. Once he was sure they were gone he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, gritting his teeth. His skin now felt like there was fire crawling beneath it. He tried opening his eyes again, but the light from the flair burned and made them water. He closed his eyes and waited.

Outside the rest of the team regrouped.

"That idiot Soul," Maka growled. "He always has to be a hero and go and jump in the way of every single injury coming towards me that's worse than a paper cut."

"Soul's going to be fine Maka," Tsubaki said comfortingly.

"Besides, Soul would never just stand by and watch you get hurt," Liz added. "That's just not the kind of person he is. He'll pull through, he always has."

"Yeah!" Patty agreed.

Blackstar made a move to say something, but Kidd had his hand over the ninja's mouth before he could speak. Blackstar pulled away looking offended and stated, "I was just going to tell her that Soul has survived a lot worse than this," before walking away.

"PROFESSOR! THE FLAIR WENT OUT!" echoed Soul's voice from the cave. He didn't sound worried or nervous, but spoke in his usual 'cool' drawl that made him sound almost bored.

Soul felt like his entire inside were on fire as he curled up in the dark and he suppressed a groan of pain from were the cold stone floor was rubbing against his skin. His head felt like it was splitting open. The last thing he needed was for Maka to be upset that he had taken a hit for he again and that he was suffering for it.

They had all collected their water bottles and were gathered around the cave entrance. "Come on, we need to get going," Stein said as he started down the hall at a swift pace.

Maka could feel her heart racing nervously in her chest. She was the first one behind Stein and had to almost jog to keep up with his pace. They slowed as the came to a stop in the great library. It was dark and their eyes were still not very adjusted to the low light. Just as Kidd, the last one of their team, entered the room the flair fizzled and went out.

Stein swore and the only sound they could hear was Stein digging around in his many pockets for another flair.

"Soul?" Maka whispered nervously.

Nothing.

Liz spoke out in a sudden outburst that made them all jump, even though it had only been a whisper. "What's that across the room?" She asked in a terrified voice as she pointed to the opposite end of the hall.

Even though they couldn't see Liz point they all turned the heads in the direction in the far side of the room and froze. A pair of large red eyes were watching them a perch that was hidden somewhere on the opposite end of the room.

"Ah here we are!" Stein said as he finally managed to find another flair, unaware of what the teens were staring at. He lit the flair and the room was cast under the soft silver and green light once again. He turned to see what the students were staring at and stopped cold.

Perched high on top of a bookshelf at the end of the hall was a massive silver dragon. It sat frozen as it watched them.

"Where's Soul?" Maka interrupted suddenly as she looked over to where they had left her partner. Her heart was panicking now as her eyes searched the shadows for any place he could be hiding. Eventually her gaze was drawn back up to the silver dragon.

Stein broke eye contact for a second to glance over to where Soul had been waiting for them. He was gone; the only sign of him being there was a pool of the thick orange liquid that had fallen on him. His gaze flicked back to the dragon. He had seen dragons before, and even though it had only been a few, something felt strangely off about this one.

Finally Blackstar asked what everyone had been wondering. "Professor, did that thing e-eat Soul?"

Stein waited a few seconds before answering, though it felt like a millennia. "I don't know it's possible but-"

Before he could finish or anyone else could move he sprinted forward and lunged at the dragon.

"Blackstar, no!" Stein yelled as Blackstar sailed through the air. The dragon could easily burn the ninja to a crisp with of puff of fire while he was vulnerable in the air. But much to his surprise, it didn't. Instead it gave a roar of surprise and leapt to the ground a few feet away as Blackstar smashed into the rock behind where the dragon's head had just been.

Blackstar attacked again and again. The dragon seemed to becoming more and more irritated, but instead of attacking it kept running away from Blackstar until he trapped it in a corner.

"How dare you eat my friend you coward!" Blackstar yelled as he leapt forward with his wavelength focused into punch that would finish the dragon for good.

Maka caught the dragon looking at her as it cringed against the wall. She knew that look! "Blackstar STOP!"

He stopped in inch from the dragon. "WHAT? Can't you see I'm trying to kill the bastard that ATE your partner?"

Maka took another quick glance at the dragon's soul to make sure she wasn't mistaken. "You idiot. That IS my partner."

Cliff hanger! I'm sorry the first chapter was soooo long. I thought about splitting it up but I wanted to get all of the boring introduction out of the way in one swing. So, yay or nay? Review please?


	2. Chapter 2

Firstly, I'd like to thank those of you who reviewed! So you kept reading? (give yourself a huzzah) I'm going to try to keep the introduction short and sweet on this one.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater punks!

Chapter 2

_*Recap :Maka caught the dragon looking at her as it cringed against the wall. She knew that look! "Blackstar STOP!"_

_He stopped in inch from the dragon. "WHAT? Can't you see I'm trying to kill the bastard that ATE your partner?"_

_Maka took another quick glance at the dragon's soul to make sure she wasn't mistaken. "You idiot. That IS my partner."*_

He stared at her like she was crazy for a minute before asking, "Maka, are you _insane_?" His voice was level until he word 'insane' at which point his voice snapped. "That's a dragon! Soul isn't a dragon." He said syllable-by-syllable as if to make sure that she didn't mishear him.

"Hmm…" Stein said thoughtfully as the two continued their argument and everyone else watched in stunned amazement. "I guess we found out what that liquid does." At this statement Maka and Blackstar stopped fight to stair at the professor curiously. Each of them looked like they were still trying to comprehend what he had last said as he took a step forward and looked as Soul as if he were debating whether he was going to dissect the dragon or not. Then he turned back to the arguing meisters and said, "Maka's right Blackstar. There's no doubt about it that the soul belonging to the dragon behind you is Soul's soul."

"What?" the group exclaimed unanimously as they turned to look at Stein in shock.

"You're standing next to Soul, idiot." Maka said sharply. She couldn't decide who she was angrier at now: Soul for knocking her out of the way of her own stupid mistake and getting hurt again or Blackstar for being so thick and trying to kill Soul. It was too much to comprehend so she decided that she would just kill them both later.

Kidd looked as if he were contemplating the credibility of what Stein had just said. Liz was frozen from her fear of monsters as if Soul would jump up and attack them any moment. Patty didn't look like she was taking in any of the heated conversation that had just occurred and was staring up at the ceiling, probably still thinking about giraffes Maka concluded to herself. And poor Tsubaki. She had taken it upon herself to try and explain what was happening to Blackstar, who was still eyeing the dragon/Soul with a mixture or distrust and weariness.

Blackstar turned back to the Soul, who hadn't moved throughout their entire conversation but had instead been listening to them with a very bored look on his face as they had argued. He squinted and looked the dragon directly in its large crimson eye, which was indeed the same color of Soul's eyes. Blackstar stood staring for a minute before coming to a conclusion. "Well I guess it _could _be Soul."

"We already knew that." Maka sighed back in exasperation.

Soul, who was tired of being crammed against the wall for so long and who now felt that it was safe for him to move without being attacked, stepped past Blackstar and walked over to where the rest group was standing. Liz took a hasty step back so that Patty and Kidd were between her and the dragon.

In standings for dragons, or at least compared to the dragon Stein had seen before, Soul wasn't that big. From where he was standing he assumed that he would be almost to the top of the dragon's shoulder if he were standing next to it. This would put the dragon at roughly ten or eleven feet. Most of the dragons he had seen met had been at least a good fifteen to twenty feet tall and would have made Soul look miniature in comparison.

Blackstar had wandered back over to the group and was still staring at the dragon cautiously. He looking prepared to jump up and attack the dragon at a moments notice.

"If that is Soul it would explain why he didn't attack Blackstar or any of the rest of us." Kidd wondered aloud. Everything Stein had said made sense and he _had_ overheard his father talking to the staff about the dragon-weapon case before. From what he had over heard the team must have been pretty tough because they were classified at top ranking with death scythes.

"Soul?" Maka asked again as she took a step towards the dragon. It let out a soft snort in response and looked back at her nervously. She could see his soul quaking back and forth from shock. His ears were bent back nervously and the end of his tail kept twitching from side to side.

"Its not the first time I've encountered dragons." Stein said, causing all of them to turn and look at him except for Blackstar, who was still watching Soul. "If I remember right there was a weapon and meister pair that passed through the DWMA a few years ago. The weapon actually had a dragon's soul attached to his own. This is a different circumstance since Soul actually doesn't have a dragon's soul, but they may be able to help. They are experts now after all and they work on special missions for lord Death. We'll have to call them when we get back to Death City."

"Is that even possible?" Blackstar asked, letting his gaze shift from Soul to the professor.

"In certain, rare cases it is," Stein replied gravely. "The weapon I'm thinking of had been tortured and experimented on by a witch who sewed the dragon's soul to his with magic." And then on a very small side note he added, "I had been very interested to dissect them, but Shinigami-sama strictly forbid it." This statement caused Soul to shudder and take a step away from where the scientist was standing.

The idea made Maka shudder. Having your soul sewn to another's didn't seem like a comfortable process. Had any other teacher tried to explain it to them she wouldn't have believed it to be entirely possible. She knew from their battles to stop the Kishin's revival that Stein had used his soul wavelength to temporarily sew Medusa in place, but the thought of permanently sewing someone's soul with magic seemed like a stretch.

"So what about Soul?" Tsubaki asked. "He hasn't had his soul sewn so he should be fine right?" She looked over to Maka, who seemed to be acting strangely calm like she did when they where in a tough battle. Tsubaki could practically see the gears turning in the meister's head as she tried to work out a solution.

"The state of his mind should be fine because he hasn't had his soul sewn and from what I know he should be able to communicate through soul resonance as well. Dragons can't talk without that connection or unless they enabled be high power magic."

"So then let's try group resonance." Blackstar said bluntly without looking at Soul. Thanks to the efforts of Tsubaki, he had clearly abandoned the idea of killing Soul on sight. The group seemed relieved that he had agreed to the idea without much argument, but Soul was just glad that he had agreed without attempting to kill him again first.

"Let's go outside first," Liz suggested. She was tired of the musty library and she still couldn't decide whether or not dragons up under her list of monsters or not.

After a few minutes of awkward shuffling through silence they were back outside again in the bright sunlight. Soul growled in agitation as the bright light stung his eyes. The sudden noise caused everyone except Blackstar to jump back in surprise at the deep rumbling noise that had crept up his throat.

It was after everyone had started to relax that Stein spoke again. "Maka, you will lead the resonance because Soul is your partner. Resonate with him first and then patch the rest of us in."

She nodded in agreement and closed her eyes, reaching out towards Soul's soul. It connected almost instantly and she could hear his voice. It sounded slightly distant as it echoed through her head.

"Well it took you long enough," he smirked.

"You idiot!" Maka felt her soul yell back. "How many times have I told you not to jump in and take hits for me?" She mentally gave him a maka chop, causing him to flinch slightly. Before he could respond, she quickly patched in the rest of the group so that they could feel each other's wavelengths. They could instantly feel his buzzing wavelength as it bumped back and forth nervously.

"Sorry for trying to kill you." Blackstar muttered.

Soul shrugged. "No harm done, but don't try that ever again." he grinned.

"You can finish your catching up later." Stein said coolly. "Right not we need to get back to the school and update Shinigami on the situation."

"Are you alright, Soul?" Tsubaki asked timidly. It was always like her to put others first.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied with a toothy grin. "Thanks for asking." The group seemed a bit taken aback by his new grin. It was the same slanted one that he always used, but instead of his usual shark-like teeth he displayed two rows of solid razor fangs. Each of them gleamed with the light of the hazy sun as it stretched across the afternoon sky.

"Ok. Come on." Stein said as he picked up Soul's bag along with his. "Maka, I want you to retain a connection with Soul for communication purposes. For now you can cut the rest of us off."

She nodded and did as Stein asked. The rest of the group instantly felt the presence of Soul's mind vanish. After that the group set off. It was slow at first. Soul seemed to be a bit uncoordinated as a dragon and kept running into things like trees or tripping over rocks. One or two times he even tripped over his own tail. To save them all from the danger of being crushed by a falling dragon, he was sent to walk at the back of the group. Maka had been designated to walk in front of Soul to help keep an eye out for anything he might trip over. He also seemed unsure of about what to do with his wings, which were tucked awkwardly on either side of him. More than once they had to stop for the dragon, even though his strides were much longer than any of theirs.

After a long silence he couldn't hold back the question anymore. "Maka, are you mad?"

'Yes. Of course she was mad. Couldn't he see that?' she thought to herself. He had pushed it too far this time. No she didn't want to be turned into a dragon, but every single time he did something like this she felt like the pain from watching him was worse than any physical harm that could actually be inflicted on her.

He could feel the angry vibration from her soul, but when she answered she sounded perfectly calm.

"Yes Soul. I am angry."

The tone wasn't even dangerous. It didn't hint at the fact that he knew he was going to be maka chopped into oblivion later. It hurt more than that. It sounded disappointed and even a tinge sad. He could feel his ears slide back nervously as she turned around to glance quickly up at him. Her eyes said it all. She was furious and as soon as Shinigami figured out a way to change him back, he was going to be in more trouble than he ever had been in before in his life. They walked the rest of the way in silence.

***Death room, DWMA***

"Well this is a problem." Shinigami said in his bouncy voice as he examined Soul. He had completely ignored his usual introduction and had skipped straight to the point today. Death Scythe was standing behind him, trying to act menacing.

He marched up to Soul and held a fist up to the dragon's face. "I swear, if my Maka is hurt in any way and it's your fault…" He trailed off as if to the hope that it would add dramatic effect. It didn't. It actually made the perfect entrance for one of Soul's snide comments.

"Anything happens and you'll do what? I'm like this because I was too busy protecting my meister. It's not cool to trail off during the middle of a sentence."

Death Scythe just stared at him. It took Soul a second before he realized that Maka was still the only one that could hear him. Instead he just snorted and flashed his teeth lazily before rolling his eyes and staring at some inconspicuous spot on the wall.

"Why you punk." Death Scythe growled, waving a fist threateningly under the dragon's nose.

"Spirit, that's enough." Shinigami said seriously as he addressed Death Scythe by his first name. "These kids have had a hard day and you don't need to go and give them anymore trouble over it for now." Spirit gave Soul one last glare before he slunk off, defeated.

Next Stein gave a full and detailed recap of what had happened to Shinigami, he nodded respectfully as he listened. Once he was done Shinigami stood in thought for a few minutes before speaking again.

"It will take a week or so before we'll be able to contact the dragon-weapon meister pair. They're currently working a mission in a very remote area and it will take a few days just to get word to them. Until then I want you Stein to work on figuring out all that you can on this potion that changed Soul. And until we sort this out we'll also have to figure out a temporary place for him to live." Shinigami added thoughtfully. "It would be dangerous to keep him anywhere outside the city, so how about a park or someplace near his apartment?"

'A park? Really? How uncool.' Soul thought to himself. 'But then again, it's not like he'd be able to fit into his apartment or any other building aside from Shibusen, who's massive halls fit to accommodate hundreds of students was more than big enough for a dragon.'

"There's one two blocks from our apartment, Lord death sir." Maka replied.

"Good. Good. I'll send some people down to close it temporarily so that Soul can stay there without being bothered by any unwanted visitors." Shinigami decided. "It goes without saying that Soul will be excused from school for a bit and that you'll both be suspended from solo missions for the time being. All of you," he said, now turning to the entire group, "should take a few days off to get accommodated to this. Is that everything?"

Soul's stomach gave a deep grumble in response. 'What about that?' He thought, even though he knew Shinigami couldn't hear him.

"Ah. That is a problem." Shinigami said as he scratched his head. "You can fly can't you?" He asked the dragon.

Soul shook his head. 'Haven't tried.'

This time Maka, who seemed to have been annoying him out of anger, was sensible enough to convey his message to the rest of the group. "He hasn't tried yet sir." She said respectfully.

"Then you should make that your first priority." Shinigami stated. "Once you know how to fly you'll be able to hunt in the forest for whatever you want. For today I will have a meal sent down to where you'll be staying, but you should put you best effort into learning to fly as soon as possible. It takes a lot of food to feed a dragon you know."

Then he turned back to Stein. "Stein, because you helped train the last dragon-weapon I would appreciate it if you would go outside with the kids and help teach Soul to fly for the rest of the day. That way we will have some time to prepare everything for Soul's temporary living area."

Stein nodded and gestured for them to follow him as he turned to leave.

***Shibusen courtyard***

Once they were out in the courtyard Stein turned back to face Soul and was surprised to see that the rest of the team standing behind him as well. "Go home. Get some rest." He advised them.

"Psh. Yeah. And miss something like this?" Blackstar asked. "This is going to be way more entertaining to watch than anything I would have found on TV anyway."

In the end, they all agreed to stay and watch Soul's training.

"Well then, now that that is settled I suppose we should get started." Stein sighed. Having a lot of people watching probably wouldn't do much to help Soul in his flying lessons, but it was no use trying to argue that point now with the stubborn bunch of students that had stood back to watch. "Maka could you-"

He felt the resonance link before he finished his sentence. He nodded thanks and turned back to Soul. "So Soul, try flying."

"How?"

Stein sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought. "Just try.

Soul extended his large bat-like wings carefully, as if he were afraid he might knock something over. Once they were fully extended he shot a nervous glance at his friends who were watching with great interest. Even Blackstar was paying attention. Soul was pretty sure that as long as he had know Blackstar, that he had never know him to pay attention to something that wasn't himself for this long and that he probably never would again. 'Might as well get this embarrassment over now.' He thought.

He gave his wings a giant sweep downwards and he felt his stomach jump into his mouth. He was launched into the air before he fell back to the earth with a crash. He could hear Blackstar's and Patty's laughing ringing in his ears. He picked himself up slowly with a pained growl.

"Your first problem is that you need to keep flapping to stay airborne." Stein said in a matter-o-fact tone.

"I know. I know." He growled back. Soul stretched his wings again and leapt upwards as he brought his wings down.

Stein smiled. 'I hadn't expected him to pick up on the idea of jumping as he launches that fast. Perhaps he won't be a failure…'

Soul took advantage of the extra height he had gained from jumping and brought his wings down again. He felt unsteady in the air as he continuously would be thrust upwards and then drop before he would be sent upwards again by another gust of air.

"What now?" He yelled back at the professor once he was a fair fifty feet in the air. He timed his flapping now sat that he wouldn't be pushed any higher, but instead was stuck in a continuous loop of up and down. His stomach still felt a little bit on edge, but no where near as uncomfortable as he had been feeling his first attempt at flying.

"Try soaring. Straighten out and use lighter flaps and let the wind do the work for you."

Soul angled his body parallel to the ground and glided across the courtyard. His flying was still choppy and rough as he tried to get used to the feeling of hanging on the wind. He didn't completely trust his new body to keep him airborne. He turned back around and swooped towards where the group was, pulling back up again as soon as he got within fifteen feet of the ground. Blackstar let out a whooping holler as he flew overhead. Soul beat his wings and sent himself soaring higher. The feeling was amazing!

He wheeled around again and before he could stop himself a trumpeting roar echoed up his throat. I smiled as he saw his friends jump in surprise below him. He gave himself some space before wheeling again and angling himself towards the ground. He landed lightly in front of where Stein and everyone else were waiting patiently.

"Not bad. It looks like you've got the basics. I got a message from Shinigami-sama that the park is ready so if you're hungry you're free to go there now. He also said that if you're going hunting, then try not to stay out too late once it gets dark." With that Stein turned and disappeared back into the school.

"Come on Soul! Let's go see what Shinigami has set up." Blackstar said as he jumped to his feet. "I'll race you there."

Soul smirked. 'That's a race you're going to loose.' He thought. He took off in a blast of hot air as he sailed down over the city.

"Hey!" Blackstar yelled as he started to sprint down the long staircase. Everyone else walked slowly behind them.

Maka watched as her partner soared effortlessly across the Death City skyline in the direction of their apartment and smiled. Citizens were probably freaking out as the dragon soared above them. It probably did not help that Blackstar was yelling and running after Soul, but that really couldn't be helped.

***The park***

By the time they arrived at the park Soul had already finished most of his dinner. What had once been a giant heap of raw fish had been reduced to only a few minnows in a matter of minutes. Blackstar was sulking at his loss and Tsubaki was now attempting to cheer him up by telling him that Soul had cheated by taking a head start. Though he didn't seem to believe it at first, the ninja eventually regained his egotistic ranting signaling that everything was back to normal. After Soul had eaten everyone sat around and talked until the sun began to sink low in the sky, at which point they all said their fair wells and headed for home. Maka was the only one that stayed behind.

The two sat in awkward silence for a minute before Soul spoke.

"I'm sorry." He said stupidly. It wasn't like apologizing would do any good, but it was the only thing he could do in the situation.

"Do you have any idea you put me through whenever you do something like this?" She asked bluntly.

The question caught Soul off guard. He had been expecting to be scolded or yelled at, but once again Maka's voice had been almost calm as she interrogated him. He looked at the ground.

She took that as his answer and continued. "It kills me every time. Every time you get hurt or something happens to you because of you because of me.

"It's not your fault." He began angrily. "I choose to-"

"I don't care." Maka shot back. Her voice wasn't calm anymore. It shook as she tried to hold back tears of sadness and fury. "It drives me crazy with worry and guilt every time you get hurt. I feel like it's my fault and don't you say it's not!" She snapped, cutting him off before he could begin. Now it's her turn to look at the ground.

"I'll come visit you tomorrow. Good night, Soul." And she leaves before he can say anything.

He watches until she turns the corner and he can't see her anymore and she breaks the soul resonance. 'Idiot!' Soul yells at himself. There was nothing else he could do. He sighed in defeat and walked over to a fountain that was spraying water. He took a long drink from it before wandering back to the basketball court. He sank down slowly on the concrete, which was still warm from being in the sun all day. It felt nice. He tucked his wings in on either side and curled up. He listened to the sound of the moon laughing overhead until he fell into an uneasy sleep.

***Maka & Soul's apartment***

Once Maka was home she had locked herself in her room. She had refused to eat dinner because she "wasn't hungry" and she refused to talk to Blair. She pressed her face into her pillow, trying to suffocate the tears that where slipping down her face. She cried until she was asleep.

The end of chapter 2! I apologize for grammar and punctuation. Review! :D


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3. Hopefully the pace will begin to pick up some more now. Again, I apologize for grammar and punctuation. Thanks for the support!

**Disclaimer : ** I don't own Soul Eater. (sigh) I also don't own the Brothers Grimm.

Chapter 3

Soul woke up groggy. '_Wait. What was he doing on the ground?' _He slowly lifted his head to look at the sky. '_What was he doing outside?'_ For a moment he sat in confusion before he remembered what had happened the previous day. He grunted as he realized that the sun was barely even up. He slowly stood up slowly and stretched. His stomach gave a low growl as a light wind blew across the open court. '_No point in staying here hungry_.' He thought to himself. At least he could go hunting without too many prying eyes out during this hour. He stretched once more before leaping into the sky.

The air was cool and light as he took off. Before he turned towards the part of the forest where lord Death said he could hunt he made a quick loop of his apartment, Blackstar's house, and Gallows Mansion to see if any of his friends were awake. All three of the locations were dark so he assumed none of them were awake yet. '_Che.' _Even Maka, who was notorious for waking up early on the weekends to study, was still asleep_._ He flew off towards the forest. Death City looked so peaceful and quiet as he soared above. Almost no lights were on yet.

He exited the city above the gate that they had traveled through the day before for their mission, but instead of sticking to the path he turned farther north. In this direction there was a river that he had visited before with his friends. It was a popular summer spot because of the cool water and open space for either playing games or training. Where there was water there had to be animals right? It sounded like something either Stein or Maka had told him once. At least for a fact he knew that the river had fish. Worst-case scenario he would leave hungry, but at least he wouldn't be thirsty.

Soul landed a little ways off from the river, not wanting to miss-land and end up taking an unexpected shower. He walked over cautiously to stare at the dark water. Before he could react, a dark fish leapt from the water and smacked him squarely in the nose. He snarled and snapped at it in a vain attempt to catch the dark object before it disappeared under the water again.

Even with his enhanced eyesight he found it hard to see under the dark surface of the water. A few feet away a different fish jumped. It hung carelessly in the air for a few seconds before it splashed back underwater. '_This is going to be so uncool.'_ He thought to himself. '_At least no one else is awake so no one will see'._

He plunged his face into the icy water. He opened his eyes slowly to find out that he could see just as well underwater as well as he could above it. He opened his mouth to lunge for a fish, but before he could close his jaws they were filled with water. He yanked his head backwards out of the water. Shook the water from his head before snapping at a passing fish.

"Hn!"

Soul whipped around at the sudden noise. His fangs were bared in agitation already. He was surprised to see Blackstar standing behind him. He had been watching Soul's attempt to catch his breakfast.

"You'll be out here all day, but if you keep fishing like then you won't catch anything."

Soul snorted. _'And you could do better?'_ He knew that Blackstar couldn't hear his thoughts, but from Blackstar's expression he assumed that the ninja understood well enough what the dragon was thinking.

Blackstar walked up next to him. As soon as the next fish jumped out of the water he swiped at it, not attempting to catch it at all. Instead it landed on the ground where it started to flop helplessly. Blackstar walked over and picked it up as Soul watched in wonder. The ninja tossed the fish towards him and Soul snatched it out of the air. It disappeared down his throat in a second.

"Now you try." Blackstar told him.

Soul walked back up to the waters edge and waited for a fish to jump. He didn't have to wait long until one leapt up right in front of him. He swatted it out of the air with one of his large paws. It landed on the ground and flopped around until it stopped moving. He hungrily swallowed the second fish before turning back to Blackstar.

"Today is the only day I'm helping you." He said shortly. "Tomorrow you'll be back on your own so don't come crying to me next time you're hungry."

Soul nodded his thanks and turned back to the river to fish some more. He was a slight bit more surprised when Blackstar walked up beside him and started to help him collect a pile a fish for his breakfast.

Once they had caught enough fish and Soul had finished eating the two of them started to walk back to the school. Soul wasn't in any hurry. The sun was now barely over the horizon. He walked next to Blackstar in silence for a while before the ninja said anything.

"Last night Tsubaki said that she got a call from Blair saying that when Maka got home that she had got straight to her room and locked herself in. No dinner or anything. She refused to come out or talk to anyone, even a great god like me." He said as if it were some great offense. "Anyway, I don't know why she gets so worked up over things some times." He shrugged. "At least didn't get hurt this time."

Soul snorted in response. _'I know. She freaks out over every single little thing sometimes and I just don't know why.'_

"But she does care about you, which is why she freaks out over everything."

Soul looked at his friend at the words. Where could he be going with this?

Seeing the confused look on Soul's face, he continued. "Sure. She could have just about any partner as a weapon if she wanted, but if you were gone I doubt that she would accept any of them. Trust me on this. I've known her for almost as long as I remember. One thing I've learned is that she may be a good partner for a lot of weapons, but almost none of them would be a good partner for her."

'_Yeah. I know. It's a full time job just scaring off all those persistent guys.' _Soul thought.

While talking they had walked all the way to the gate to Death City.

"Catch you later." Blackstar said as he walked off.

Soul sighed and took off, still thinking about what his friend had just told him. Perhaps he should fly past their apartment to see if Maka was awake yet? He trashed the idea and instead flew back to the park. He landed on the hard ground with a gentle thud. He liked the courts because they were in the center of the park and was surrounded by trees so that people passing by outside couldn't see him from where he was standing.

It wasn't until he was back on the ground again that he realized how tired he really was. Flying took a lot more out of him than he expected and he had woken up fairly early to go for breakfast. He let a wide yawn slip from jaws before curling up again. The sun had begun to climb into the sky and the rest of the city was beginning to wake up. He didn't care. He didn't have anything planned so he might as well sleep some more before doing anything else. He was about to close his eyes when something moved off the edge of his vision.

His head immediately snapped up in the direction of the movement. He sniffed the air without fully knowing why. Just a reaction he guessed. It smelled the same except for the faint hint of strawberries. He could guess who it was before he could see her.

Maka appeared on one of the paths that snaked lazily through the park. "Oh hey, Soul. I didn't know if you'd be up yet or not so I came to check on you."

His gaze followed her as she walked over. At least she looked like she was feeling a little bit better.

"Have you eaten yet?"

He nodded in response.

"That's good. We got a message from lord Death that we're supposed to meet Professor Stein down on the training field later today for extra lessons and to help you with your flying."

Soul nodded. He wondered just how long she had been up and waiting for him. He hadn't noticed her when he landed back in the park, but he had been tired and not paying attention to much of what was happening. He yawned again and set his head down again. He closed his eyes to go back to sleep.

"You're so lazy Soul." Maka sighed angrily. "You just woke up and you're already going back to sleep."

He opened one eye to look at her. He reached out to her soul and was clearly offended. He briefly conveyed ache of flying and waking up early to go for food. He was careful to leave Blackstar's presence out of his explanation though. After he was done explaining he pulled his soul back.

Even though Soul hadn't actually used words to communicate, she had gotten a pretty explanation for why he was tired. It was strange. Instead of words Soul had used more thoughts and pictures to explain himself. She suspected that this was going to come up in their extra lessons with Stein.

She reached into the bag she had brought with her and pulled out a book. She walked over to one of the benches that sat beside the courts and sat down. She was quickly lost in the book.

Soul stood up. There was no point in trying to sleep now because Maka would only nag him about it later. He walked around the court a few times. There wasn't much else to do.

"Soul sit down," Maka commanded from behind her book. "The sound your claws make on the concrete is very distracting."

He sighed, which sounded more like an exasperated huff. With nothing better to do, he walked over to where his meister was sitting and sat down. He looked curiously over her shoulder to see what she was reading. She ignored him and pretended she didn't notice the dragon as it sat down behind her.

Soul squinted to see the tiny words on the paper, but he had trouble making out most of them. He leaned in closer to try and read the words. It didn't do him much good, but he was able to make out a few more of the words.

Maka sighed and closed her book after marking the page. She turned to face the Soul, who was now hovering just a few inches above her shoulder. He looked back at her with a confused and innocent tone. "I can't read with you breathing down my neck Soul."

"Well it's not like I have anything else to do. I was trying to see what you were reading but I can't make out the words." He said, using their souls as a medium.

"It's called the Brothers Grimm."

Soul smirked. "I never pictured you as the type to read fairy tales Maka."

"Professor Stein recommended it because it might have something the immortal werewolf Free in it. He also said that some of the stories with magic are related to the different types of magic that witches posses."

"There's always a reason with you isn't there." Soul sighed. "Well if you're not going to let me read over your shoulder then could you at least read some of it to me using our soul wavelengths?" He asked.

He put his head down as Maka started to read again. Instead of starting from the middle of the story where she left off she turned back to the beginning so that Soul wouldn't be confused. She smiled as he silently thanked her. They both sat silently as Maka continued to read.

Soul liked the sound of her voice as she read. It was even and calm. She pronounced words with careful precision as she read. He could hear every word clear and precise. He closed his eyes and just listened. She didn't seem notice. It wasn't until after she had finished the story that she looked over to see the dragon with his eyes closed.

"Hey Soul! Wake up!" She yelled in frustration. She was about to hit him with the hardback book when he opened one eye to stare back at her.

"Who ever said I was sleeping?" He asked as he opened his other eye. He stood up and stretched before speaking again. "Besides, don't we need to go meet with Stein or something?"

Maka gasped. She had completely forgotten and now they were going to be late fore their lesson! "Come on Soul! We're going to be late!" She yelped as she jumped up. Maka quickly stuffed the book back into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "There's now way we'll make it on time!"

Soul just grinned and gave a snorting laugh. "I know how we can get there on time."

"How?" Maka asked with a pout.

Soul flexed his wings in reply. Before she could object he leapt into the air, catching her in one giant paw as he soared upwards.

"Soul put me down!" She screamed, but they were already over the trees and soaring low over the city. She wrapped her arms around the giant hand that was wrapped around her waist. She watched in wonder as the city sped under them. Even though Soul had only had one flying lesson, she had to admit the he had improved from when she had seen him fly the previous day. "Soul!"

She was going to kill him. He knew it now. If his reckless behavior from the past few days weren't going to get him killed, this sure would. In his defense, Maka had complained about not wanting to be late. Of course, now she would probably kill him during their training session.

Once he could see the training field he started to bring them down. The last thing he wanted was for Maka to complain about almost being killed because he did a sloppy job on trying to land. They pulled up on the training field right as Stein was walking on below them. If he had been flying much lower his tail would have been in danger of hitting the professor as the gilded by.

Soul landed in the middle of the field. He set Maka down gently before dropping back down onto all fours.

"I can't believe you did that Soul!" Her voice steadily rising. In a flash she had a book in her hand. Before Soul could run he was on the ground with blood steadily spurting from his head.

"Ah good. You're both here." Stein said as he wiped dust from his glasses. "Today is going to be a long day so I hope you're ready to work." Soul groaned as he picked himself up off the ground. "Today we'll start with flight training. Flying is going to be your hardest course because it's going to take the most physical training. For now I want to start with endurance training. Lord Death was able to get me brief contact with the dragon-weapon team this morning and they gave me some notes. Their longest recorded flight was thirty-four hours straight."

Soul's eyes widened in surprise. He had had a hard time staying airborne for barely half an hour.

"We don't need you quite yet Maka so you're free to go read, but stay close by for when we start partner training."

She picked up her book and walked a little ways away before she sat down and started to read. Soul was grouchy because he would have taken sitting and listening to Maka read of flight training just about any day. He sighed and turned back to Stein.

"For now I just want you to fly around the training field until you get tired. I'm going to time you and we're going to work on getting you to a higher endurance. Go."

Soul took off in a cloud of dust. He decided to fly a bit higher than he usually preferred because the wind was stronger and he wouldn't have to beat his wings as hard to stay up in the air. Even though the air was cool, he could feel the heat from the sun begin to grow as it rose steadily higher overhead.

He circled the track for what seemed like ages. He had still been sore from his flight to go get breakfast as well as the second one to the training field. He deeply regretted the second flight now. He had flown at an awkward angle from holding Maka so that she would fall. It had put a twist into one of his shoulders and was now giving him trouble as he tried to stay up. The sun was really beginning to heat up now and he could feel his breathing become steadily more and more labored.

Maka was still reading below and Stein was standing around looking bored. Eventually Blackstar, Tsubaki, Masamune, and the witch Angela wandered out to the field. Masamune would be helping Blackstar and Tsubaki train with the demon sword. Soul watched as the two swordsman talked for a few minutes and then launched into training. The blades of their swords flashed in the bright light.

Soul felt as if his wings were slowly becoming heavier and heavier. He felt his pace drag and as he would drop a few feet towards the ground. Eventually and could bare it no longer and he descended back down to the ground. He almost crashed from exhaustion as he landed, but thankfully he had managed to pull up at the last moment and some how he landed on his feet.

"Not bad." Stein said as he walked up. "One hour and twenty seven minutes. Still, you should be able to do better than that. Most of the time the weather won't be this steady either. You didn't have much of a head wind to fight against either. Don't worry though. We should be getting some wind storms later on this week."

'_You want me to train in a windstorm? Man, you really are sadistic.' _Soul thought to himself. '_There's no way I'm doing that._'

Stein responded as if he had read the dragon's mind. "Until your classes are resumed these extra classes will be counting as your grade. If you refuse to do something I could always just fail you or dissect you in my next science class." He said with a grin. Of course he would love to dissect the specimen in his next class anyways, but as usual lord Death had interfered. 'No dissecting the students,' had been a rule added to the DWMA that had been added when he was hired as a teacher. Fortunately, he wasn't required as a teacher to tell his students that said rule existed. As far as he was concerned in his classroom, it didn't.

Soul shot him a thoroughly disgruntled gaze, but said nothing else. His muscles now ached down to the bone and he was too tired to fight the crazy professor just now. He looked around and for the first time realized some archery targets that had been lined up on the far side of the field, opposite of where Blackstar and Masamune where training. Maka was still sitting off to the side reading.

Stein caught him glancing at the targets and began to explain. "These," he said as he gestured to the targets, "are going to help you with your next training exercise." He was grinning widely now. "What you're going to be learning next should be very fun."

Soul glared back at him. He was pretty sure that they both had very different definitions of fun.

"You'll be learning how to breath fire."

Soul looked at the targets as he finally realized what they were for. '_Breathing fire. Now that was something cool.'_ He leaned his head back and roared in approval. He grinned as Stein dropped his glasses in surprise. Soul could also see Maka jump in shock and far away he heard as the sound of blades hitting each other stopped momentarily before resuming.

"Try to refrain from doing that." Stein said with a sigh. "It's very annoying. So as I said a few moments ago, you'll be learning to spit fire at those targets. Your goal is to catch all of them on fire. Try not to burn anything else down."

Soul grinned and turned towards the targets. His tail was swishing side to side eagerly. He had felt it before when he roared. A pull that made his stomach seem to ignite energy. He sucked in a deep breath and he felt the sensation again. He quickly opened his mouth as the heat crawled up his throat and a puff of dark, thick smoke rolled out of his jaws. It tasted bitter in his mouth.

'_That was all? That was really the best he could do?' _His nose cringed up in a snarl. He looked over to see Maka trying to hide a smile behind her book. He jerked his head back so that it was facing the targets and tried again. This time he at least managed a small cloud a fire that singed the air before vanishing into wisps of smoke. He breathed again and again, each time the cloud of fire growing in intensity.

'_One more time._' He told himself. He breathed in again and let the pressure build for a second before releasing a wave of fire that engulfed the targets in front of him. He tried the trick one more time, holding the air back for a few more seconds this time. The heat scorched his neck as fire erupted from his jaws. He grinned with triumph. The targets had either been completely incinerated or those that were remaining had been charred to a fine crisp.

"Well that took longer than I expected," Stein said coolly.

Soul snorted, thin trails of smoke curling from his nose threateningly.

"For this next part we'll need Maka." Stein said. "I'm going to have you two try soul resonance."

Soul shrugged. He sat down and rested as the professor called Maka over. The sun was high now and it was well past noon. He wasn't in any hurry. He was still breathing hard from his flight around the field earlier. He opened his eyes lazily as Maka walked over. He didn't stand up when she reached him and Stein, but instead just lifted his neck so that he was eye level with the rest of them.

"What we're going to try now is have you two use soul resonance and we're going to see if it's even possible for Soul to change into his weapon form." Stein explained.

"Ok." Maka said as she walked up to Soul. Her face had the same serious look it got whenever they trained. There was also the same fierce determination in her eyes that was so signature to Maka. Soul smiled and rose to his full height as he stood.

"Ready Soul?" She asked. He nodded. "Then lets go. Soul resonance!" Their souls clicked and she could feel the instant presence of Soul's mind. "Can you change into a scythe?" She asked.

"No. I think it's been blocked off by the potion." Soul said back. "I can usually feel the scythe inside me, but right now it feels blacked off by something."

"Are you sure you're just not being lazy Soul?" Maka asked doubtingly.

"Of course I am!" he growled back. "And I'm not that lazy in case you hadn't noticed all the training I've done today. I've been out here working even longer than Blackstar!"

Maka had to agree that that was an accomplishment in itself. And she had seen Soul been working hard all day. "Sorry." She said lamely. "I know you're trying and if you said that your transforming is blocked off by something to do with the potion then you're probably right." Even though he didn't know Maka had been awake in the wee hours of the morning when Soul flew over their apartment and had sensed his soul as he flew over it.

"Che. Don't apologize Maka. That's so uncool." She glared at him. "But thanks anyways." He added quickly. To his relief she stopped glaring and smiled.

"Nice save." She said. Soul grinned lopsidedly back at her. Then to Stein she said, "We don't think that it's possible for Soul to transform in this state professor. He says he thinks it has something to do with the potion."

"Well if that's the case then there's no point in trying to push it." Stein said. "There was one last thing I wanted to go over with you two today."

"And what is that professor?" Maka asked.

"Team flying. Once Soul has a higher endurance he'll be able to fly farther, but he'd also have the option of carrying passengers as well." Stein explained. "It's particularly useful for small teams on long ranged missions."

"No." Maka said flatly.

"Ah." Stein laughed. "Your flying today? Yes, I can see how that would be terrifying. Most people don't like being carried in the claws of a dragon." He said, glancing at Soul. The dragon just shrugged. "I guess we'll work on it tomorrow. I want you both out here tomorrow an hour after school is over. I know lord Death told you to take the day off, but can I say it's safe to assume that I'll see you in class tomorrow Maka?"

She nodded. She looked over her shoulder to see that Blackstar had finished his training and gone home.

"Well then I guess you're both dismissed. Remember, be here tomorrow an hour after school." He yelled after them as they walked off of the training field.

"So what do you say I give you a lift home?" Soul joked. He received a quick maka chop to the nose and winced. "I take that as a no." He laughed.

"Well it's easy for you to say." Maka retorted. "You weren't the one being dangled over Death City in the claws of a dragon."

Soul grinned and breathed a short fire. Maka jumped to the side instinctively. Soul snickered and earned himself another maka chop. It was worth it though.

"So are you really going to school tomorrow Maka?" Soul asked, looking for a chance to poke at his partner.

"Of course I am Soul. If it wasn't for the fact that you won't fit in the classroom I'd be making you go too." She said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Soul laughed even harder. "You're such a nerd Maka." He teased. "I'd bet that even Kidd isn't going to school, even though he always does arrive late anyways."

"Shut up Soul." Maka said, blushing.

"Oh come on Maka." He smiled. "You know I'm just teasing." She smiled at the white dragon as they walked the darkening streets. It was nice because when he walked at night he caught fewer stares.

They continued to talk and laugh until they had walked all the way back to the park where Soul was staying.

"I'll walk you back to the apartment." Soul said as they continued to walk to walk in the direction of their apartment.

"You don't have to. I know you don't like it how people stare." Maka said.

"I insist." Soul said back. "Cool weapons don't let their partners walk home alone on the streets when it's dark out."

Maka gave in and let Soul walk her home into they were standing outside their apartment building. She was secretly glad that he had insisted. On the two blocks between the park and their apartment they passed a few shady alleys and she was glad that Soul had silently moved in between them and her without a word.

"Thanks for walking me home. I'll see you tomorrow."

Soul nodded and left once he saw the light flicks on in their apartment above.

Now…..review! :D The next chapter is going to be a short one so I made this one a little longer. Hope you enjoyed!


	4. Lost Chapter 1

BAM! Two updates in one day! This is a very quick story that I wanted to add in to the story. I'm sorry it doesn't quite fit into the story right here and once the next long chapter is added I promise that I will fix the order of the stories…or maybe not. It just depends. Any how, on to the story.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Soul Eater….yet.

Lost Chapter 1

Maka sighed and slammed the refrigerator door shut. "Hey Soul! We're out of-" She faulted before the last word as she remembered that Soul wasn't staying in their apartment. Soul was staying at the park down the street until the whole dragon situation was sorted out. "Milk." She finished softly. The apartment got lonely when she was the only one there.

Maka picked up the glass that had been sitting on the counter and filled it with water in the sink. She walked over to the table that sat in the middle of the kitchen and sunk into one of its chairs. Usually Soul would run to the grocery store when ever they ran out of food at night and needed something for the needed something from the store. Maka frowned. She would need some for her morning coffee and without Soul around it meant that she was going to have to walk to the store and get some.

Maka stood up and slipped her shoes on. She grabbed her keys from the counter as she passed them on the way out the door. After a few flights of stairs she was outside on the street in the warm night. She decided that it would be best to go to the closest grocery store, which was only one block away in the direction of the park, instead of to her favorite store, which was located a few blocks in the opposite direction. She walked quickly. Even a place like Death City wasn't know for being particularly the safest place at night. Now she understood that there might be some reason behind Soul's complaining for when ever he had to run to the store at night.

She made her trip at the Deathmart quick. Get in, find the milk, pay at the checkout, and get out. It was probably the shortest amount of time that she had ever spent in a store while grocery shopping.

The streets were nearly silent now and she could hear her own light footsteps against the dark pavement. She stopped short once she caught sight of her apartment. There were three or four shady figures hovering outside the door as if they were waiting for someone. Maka didn't recognize them as any of her neighbors and she was sure that she had never seen any of them before. One of them looked up and noticed her, quickly rousing his other three companions. They started walking in her direction. Maka quickly turned around and started walking as fast as she could in the opposite direction while trying to stay calm.

A couple weeks back one of her neighbors had said that he had been jumped on his way home after dark. Maka was willing to bet that these where the same thugs that were following her. She could hear their mismatching footsteps growing louder and louder behind her. She started to sprint as she passed in front of the Deathmart she had just been shopping in a few minutes previously. She could still hear the footsteps behind her.

Maka ran in the direction of the park where Soul was and stretched her Soul out to his. She was surprised to find that it seemed awake and alert. She would have expected her partner to be out cold after his long training session with Professor Stein.

Soul instantly felt that something was off with his meister's wavelength. It seemed distressed and urgent. He leapt to his feet and started to move in the direction of Maka's wavelength.

She could see the park gate across the street now! Just a few more feet. Something tight closed around her shoulder and stopped her in her tracks. She turned to hit her attacker, but instead he caught her fist and pinned the arm down so that it was useless.

"What do we have here?" One of the men chuckled. "Out grocery shopping this late at night isn't safe you know." He smirked. The other goons around him laughed at the joke until he cut them off. Then turning towards one of the goons he snapped, "Mac, take her bag." But Mac and the two other goons behind him where frozen as they stared at something over their leader's shoulder. He felt the hot breath singe the back of his neck and he turned his head around slowly. All he caught was his own scared face reflected back at him in the dragon's pearly white teeth. He quickly dropped the girl and stumbled backwards.

Soul snarled angrily and exhaled dark puff of threatening smoke. The four men covering below him let out cries of fright and took off. Soul bore his teeth at them until they disappeared around a corner a few blocks away. He then lowered his gaze to inspect his meister.

Maka felt his concern and answer what he was thinking quickly. "I'm fine Soul."

He glared back at her in agitation. "How many times have I told you not to walk around the city alone at night?"

"Deathmart is only a block from our apartment Soul." She sighed. "I'm not a kid. I can walk to the grocery on my own."

"Not at night you can't. If you have to go out you call me or one of our friends to take you. I don't care if you have to call your creepy dad to take you, but you do not go out alone." He stated sharply.

"I'm not a kid, Soul." She repeated again. "But next time I need to run to the store after dark I'll give you a call, ok?"

Soul grunted in agreement as he started to walk his partner home. "Are you sure you're ok?" As a dragon he was too big to fit on the sidewalk so instead he walked in the empty street next to her.

"I'm fine." Maka reassured him.

"What did you need from the store anyway?" he asked curiously.

"Milk. I need it for my coffee in the morning." Maka replied flatly.

"You risked your life so you could have coffee in the morning?" Soul admitted in his head that risking her life was a bit of a stretch, but it summed up his outlook on the situation. "Why didn't you just decide to have tea or something else in the morning instead?"

"Because I didn't think I was going to get mugged!" Maka yelled back in defense.

"That's because no one _thinks_ that they are going to get mugged!" Soul yelled back. "I swear, for being so smart you can be such an idiot sometimes Maka." He teased as they walked up to the apartment building.

"Goodnight Soul." She said before she walked into the building.

"Night Maka." Soul yawned. Great. Now he was too tired to walk back to the park. Soul sunk down against the wall by the door. He yawned again before setting his head down on his paws. He would get up early to go hunting in the morning. Hopefully he would be early enough so that he didn't ended up frightening any of the residence. He grinned. Tomorrow would be an interesting morning.

Comments?


	5. Chapter 4

I hope you enjoyed the short vacation from the main plot line. I think I may write a few more short stories before this story is over, but who knows! Please write me if you enjoyed it. I like the side stories because they add some more depth to the characters. I changed my mind. Expected the unexpected and expected more short stories! Heads up, this is a ridiculously long chapter.

**Disclaimer** – I don't own Soul Eater. (sad face)

Chapter 4

Soul woke up feeling more sore than he had ever felt before in his entire life. When he stood up to stretch he was met by a chorus of snaps and pops. He simply stood still for a few minutes, breathing deeply. He slowly opened his eyes and squinted at the moon. Of course it was still out. He had woken up even earlier than the day before. After his usual quick check over the city, he turned and headed out to hunt for his breakfast. When he landed he was not surprised to find that Blackstar had been true to his word about not helping Soul find any food after his first fishing lesson. He was however, surprised to find a large pizza from Deathmart sitting untouched by his usual hunting spot. It was still faintly warm. He grinned and silently thanked his "anonymous" caretaker.

Soul quickly devoured the pizza before turning to his usual morning activity of snatching fish out of the air. He was happy to have even swiped a few directly out of the swift river as the flashed by. Once he was full he took off back towards the city. The sun still wasn't up and he could see that he had made much faster time than he had the day before. He also noticed that he wasn't as sore as he had been earlier as he touched down back in the park again. Actually, he felt a lot better. He stretched his wings eagerly and turned back towards the sky. In a heartbeat he was back in the air. He had nothing better to do after all.

For a while he glided over the city aimlessly like a silver shadow. Occasionally he would throw in a loop, roll, or some other trick to make things more interesting as he flew over the sleeping city. After an nearly hour though, he found himself growing bored again. He had already traced over his favorite stores: Deathmart, Deathbucks, and Tonedeath. Tonedeath was his favorite because the store manager would let Soul use the lesson room in the back of the store to try out any new pianos that the store got.

He got bored and returned to the park. At least the sun was beginning to peek its face up over the city by now. He felt too energized to fall back asleep, so instead he took to pacing around the basketball courts like he had done the previous day. The sun was growing steadily high in the sky. Maka would definitely be up by now and preparing for school, even though she had the pardon of Shinigami-sama himself. He stopped to stretch and found himself flapping his wings again eagerly. There was just something addicting about the sensation.

And then he got his idea. Soul quickly grinned and decided to pull through with it. After all, he needed a good laugh and this would more than do the trick. He looked up at the sky to make sure that he wasn't already too late. Nope. With luck the only people that would be at the school already would be teachers. He suspected that he still had a good half hour before the bulk of students arrived.

He quickly took off for the school. He landed in the empty courtyard to discover that his suspicions where correct. He carefully positioned himself in the courtyard right between the stairs leading up to Shibusen and the front doors to the school. He lay down and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. It wasn't long before he heard his first victims reach the top of the steps. From the sounds of their voices on the way up they seemed to be in a class under him. The voices had immediately frozen as their feet had hit the top step. He opened his eye just a crack to see them frozen where they were, too terrified to move. Soon he heard other students begin to drift up the steps.

"Hey! Why are you standing there like a bunch of-" a voice yelled as it reached the top step. The boy who had been yelling fell silent as his eyes landed on the dragon. More and more kids where beginning to accumulate on the steps to the school, a few of them even daring to etch their way around the edge of the courtyard to make room for more students.

"Is it dead?"

"No, I think it's only asleep."

"Keep your voices down! Do you want to wake it up?"

"Quick! Somebody poke it just to be sure!"

"I hope it eats you first."

"I wonder if the teachers know about this? Maybe someone should sneak past it and go inside to check."

"Maybe this is some kind of test?"

"Should we try fighting it?"

"Maybe we should all just go home."

The whispering continued. Soul was getting bored. He slowly opened his eyes and lifted up his head. The crowd went dead silent. He stood up to his full height. He also made sure to give a giant yawn. He blinked and turned to look at the mob of a hundred or so people staring at him. He noticed that one person had even fainted.

"Hey! Why are all of you standing here?" a new arrival yelled from the back of the crowd. Soul could see as people shifted aside as the person made their way to the front of the crowd. His face dropped when he saw Maka push her way to the front of the crowd, but he held his ground. She knew exactly what he was pulling and she didn't look too pleased about it.

"Soul…." She began in a warning tone as she stepped up to the dragon. A few people in the audience gasped. Whispers started flying again.

"Is she crazy?"

"She looks like she knows what she's doing."

"That dragon looks afraid of her. I wonder if they've met before?"

"Isn't Soul her partner's name?"

Soul tensed as Maka took a step closer. He was ready to jump into the air at the first sign of a maka chop. And it was a good thing too. Maka just barely missed him as he leapt into the sky. Instead of flying straight up he had leapt to the side to avoid her attack and caused a crowd of frightened people to quickly get as far back as possible. He flapped his wings again and shot up out of Maka's reach. He grinned as she fumed below. With expert aim she hurled the book at him. He dodged it easily and it continued to sail away. Now it was his turn to demonstrate his new expertise. He wheeled around and caught the book with a burst of speed. Unfortunately, this seemed to only make her more angry.

A most of the people had begun to file into the school, realizing that they faced more threat for being late to class than they did from the dragon. A good few stayed to watch as the dragon continued to taunt one of the academy's top meisters.

Soul turned again and sailed down to where Maka was waiting. He held the book out to her. It was a risky move for sure. He was sure he was going to get it now. Just before Maka could bring the book down against his hard skull they were interrupted by one of the onlookers.

"Maka?"

She turned her attention towards the newcomer.

"I was wondering if you'd be my partner?"

The question clearly caught her off guard. Soul held back a growl, but he couldn't stop from snarling. His heart had stopped inside his chest.

"I would have asked sooner, but Soul Eater always acres off anyone who tries to get near you."

"Yeah," another boy who had come up said. "We've been trying to find a way to get you on your own to ask you for months."

Soul couldn't stop himself from growling now. The two boys looked surprised and jumped backwards a few steps. It was very obvious that they had no idea that they were standing directly in front of Soul.

Maka gave him a sharp glare, but her voice was totally calm as she responded to the two weapons' question.

"Sorry, but I already have a partner and I'm not looking to change any time soon." She replied coolly. The two weapons looked down sadly as they walked away. Then her attention was directed back at Soul, but she seemed distracted. "I better go if I don't want to be late to class." She said hurriedly. "I'll see you at lunch." And with that she was gone.

Soul breathed a sigh of relief. He wondered up next to the building so that he was shaded from the bright sun. He yawned for real and sank to the ground. His morning flight was catching up with him, but not to worry. A good nap could fix that. He barely noticed as Tsubaki and Blackstar walked past him to school.

Maka had barely made it to class on time and had only just sat down in her seat when Stein started to speak. She wasn't surprised when Tsubaki dragged a complaining Blackstar through the door and walked up to sit next to her.

"Today we will be starting a new subject class," he said with a slight hint of excitement. He always had that tone when announcing what new animal that they would be dissecting. "Unfortunately, it is impossible to obtain a specimen for dissection. So instead I have decided that we will just have to study a live specimen for now." He added rather disappointedly. Many students looked up happily on the opposite hand though.

'_What could we possibly be studying that he's not going to dissect?'_ Maka thought. Her hand shot into the air. "What are we going to be studying professor?"

Stein grinned. "I want that to be a surprise." He chuckled. The class shivered and sunk back in their chairs. He continued as if nothing had happened. "So today we will be having class outside! Everyone to the courtyard. You can leave you belongings in here."

They stood up and filed out of the classroom without any more questions, but not without any talking at all. People were discussing what they could possibly be studying.

"He dissects countless endangered animals, and now he's telling us there's something we can't dissect." Maka said.

"Who knows?" Blackstar shrugged. "At least we get to study something that's alive for once. I can't take all those boring dissections. Maybe he'll let us fight what ever it is that we'll be studying." He added eagerly.

"Probably not. I wonder what it is that we will be studying anyway?" Maka asked as they walked out into the courtyard.

"Today," Stein yelled over the commotion, "we will start studying dragons!" He gestured Soul, who was still asleep in the shadow of the school. The students went dead silent as they turned to look at the large white dragon.

Blackstar broke the silence, causing a few people around him to jump. "You've got to be kidding me."

Stein looked back at him gleefully.

The sudden noise had woken up Soul, who was now blinking blearily at the crowd standing in front of him. _Why where they all out here? Shouldn't they be in class or something?_ Then he noticed Stein. _Well this can't be good._

"Oh good. We were just about to wake you up." Stein said as Soul lifted his head.

Soul growled and his ears slid back against his head. He was not in the mood to be one of Stein's little science projects. He quickly stood up and got ready to fly off to find a new place to nap.

"Not so fast. You don't even know what I want you for yet." The professor said quickly. Soul growled again and dropped back down to his feet again. Stein turned back to the class and announced, "Today you will be learning how to fight dragons by having a sparring match with this one. You are **NOT** fighting to the death or to kill this dragon. Do I make myself clear?" The students nodded back quickly. "Ok then. Who wants to go first?"

Blackstar had stepped up before Stein could finish the question. The only thing better than skipping class to fight was when he would fight in class. Stein gestured for everyone else to stand in the shade as Soul and Blackstar squared up in the middle of the courtyard. Tsubaki joined Blackstar, quickly transforming into enchanted sword mode.

Soul tensed as he waited for Blackstar's attack. So far the only thing that could be used as an attack that he knew was how to breath fire, which meant that if he didn't want to burn his best friend to a crisp then he would have to stay on the defensive for most of the fight. It didn't matter if he flew off because he had no doubt that Blackstar would be able to keep up with him.

He was right. Blackstar leapt forward as Soul tensed up and prepared to counter. There was no chance that he could beat the ninja on speed so his only choice was by weathering him out.

The first hit came faster than expected. He still managed to knock the blade aside on its blunt edge with his armored forearm, but in turn it left his stomach open and unguarded.

A lightning fist knocked the air out of him.

The blow sent him tumbling backwards so that his wings were trapped under him. He made an effort to righten himself, but his trapped wings prevented him from regaining his footing. Blackstar was charging in for a second attack. He flipped over and dug his claws into the ground just in time.

A second hit, this time to the shoulder.

The hit sent him skidding backwards a bit, but he had managed to keep his footing. The courtyard was now scarred from where his claws had dug into the ground. Blackstar was coming in for a third attack when an idea struck him.

Closer. He just needed to wait until Blackstar was a little bit closer.

Now!

Soul jumped to the side as Blackstar went flying through the air. His tail throbbed lightly from where the ninja had caught his foot, but he was still pleased that his plan had worked. Sure, tripping his opponent was a low move. He got that. But it was better than breathing a quick cloud of fire and calling it a day.

Blackstar stood up from where Soul had tripped him. Murderous intent was in his eyes now. Perhaps tripping him hadn't been the plan of action. Soul knew that Blackstar didn't like to be made a fool out of in fights. He admitted that the next blow stung a bit, even through his tough armor.

The flat side of the blade had come down hard against his arm. Blackstar's speed seemed to increase and Soul could no longer keep up with his blows. He swatted at the ninja, but only managed to knock him back once or twice and cause a few seconds of break before the next attack.

His muscles were beginning to ache under his scales. He could see Blackstar beginning to sweat as well. His attacks were growing lighter and slower, which was a good sign that he was wearing out. He was also getting careless. He charged again, leaping directly at Soul.

In a single fluid motion, Soul swatted Blackstar out of the air and pinned him to the ground under one of his huge paws. Blackstar struggled against the dragon's weight to no avail. Soul yawned. This fight was almost as good as over.

"Let me up so I an beat you! I am greater than the gods!" Blackstar yelled from under his foot.

Soul snorted and rolled his eyes over to the crowd. _Yeah, like that's going to happen._

Blackstar struggled furiously at his response. He knew Soul well enough to guess that the dragon had just responded with some snide remark. He continued to yell and swear loudly about his greatness.

Soul sighed. All this yelling hurt his sensitive ears and was giving him a headache. He leaned down in front of Blackstar's face and roared loudly. The ninja went stock-still and quiet.

"Well I think that about wraps it up." Stein said casually as he walked over to where the two where standing. Most of the class was still quietly standing on the sidelines. It was only a _VERY_ rare occasion to the point of never that someone would manage to beat Blackstar in a fight.

Soul let Blackstar up. It was clear that his pride was hurt much more than he was. Both of them were tired from the fight and each had their own fair share of bruises. Neither was bleeding, but Soul had a small scratch across the scales on his right shoulder. It prickled a bit, but aside from being a minor discomfort he felt fine.

Tsubaki transformed back from weapon mode and walked back to where she had been standing next Maka. Blackstar, on the other hand, walked off in a random direction. It was no doubt that he was going to be skipping the rest of his classes for the day, most likely to fight. Stein let him go.

"So what have we learned here today class?" Stein asked the crowd of students. It took a few seconds before some students piped up. Those of them confused whether there was one right answer kept their mouths shut.

"Don't attack directly head on if you don't have an opening?"

"Be careful when attack both the front and the back of a dragon."

"A dragon on its back will be temporarily disabled."

"All good answers." Stein said happily. "Now who can tell me…"

Tired of listening, Soul slumped back over to where he had been resting early and curled up for another nap. The sun was now directly overhead and was shining directly on him. To his surprise it actually felt nice on his sore muscles. He could stay in that spot for the rest of the day he thought casually.

Something sharp poked him directly on his soft nose.

He snarled as his eyes snapped open. Stein was standing in front of him with a sharp stick in one hand. Soul growled out of annoyance and closed his eyes.

It was silent for a moment after he closed his eyes.

_Stab._

Soul's eyes snapped open at the pain. Stein was still standing with the stick in one hand, looking quite pleased with himself. He raised his head and growled a much fiercer warning. He sat glaring for a moment before lowering his head slowly. He watched Stein wearily.

The third time the stick stabbed his nose he was lighting fast. He had seen it coming as Stein lashed out. In the blink of an eye it had been splintered by his razor teeth. Stein still smiled as if nothing had just happened. Soul stood up and reared onto his back legs. He towered at full height over Stein and roared. At his full height he dwarfed the professor.

"I'm sorry. Was I keeping you awake?" He asked sarcastically.

Soul snarled before dropping back down to four feet on the ground. He glared at the professor angrily.

"That," he said loudly as he turned back to the class, "was lesson two. Do not wake a sleeping dragon unless you intend to finish it of in one strike. Also, remember that the nose is probably the soft spot that you will find in a dragon's armor."

Soul snorted and stretched his wings. With a single beat he was soaring steadily up through the air. He circled higher and higher until he was level with the spiral towers of Shibusen. He flew to the nearest one. Once he landed he hooked his claws into place against the shingles of the roof to keep him from sliding off. He settled down carefully to take a nap. It seemed like the only place in the entire city where he could take a nap without being disturbed.

Stein stood watching. It was doubtless that Soul had been practicing his flying. He had improved a lot from not being able to get off of the ground just two days ago. Still, he had a long way to go.

He sighed. Now he had lost his test subject. He turned back to the crowd as someone from the crowd piped up.

"Professor, how did the school get a dragon anyway?"

Maka felt herself blush and hoped that the people in the crowd around her didn't notice.

"By certain students not following the rules on a mission and by getting doused in a witch's potion as a result. He has learned a lesson he won't soon forget." Stein replied coolly. "We're not entirely sure when the potion will wear off so for now we just cross our fingers and hope he doesn't eat any of you." He added with a grin. A few of the students looked up towards the roof where the dragon was sleeping while the others started muttering amongst themselves.

"Who's missing from our class?"

"Soul Eater?"

"You think Stein was serious or that this is another one of his sick pranks?"

"He seemed pretty serious. I wouldn't put it past him though."

Maka had heard just about enough. The last thing she needed was to be around the class when they were gossiping like this.

"Tsubaki, Maka," Stein called over the crowd, "Can you two go find Blackstar and bring him back to the classroom? We are going to go back inside to take notes since we're done with hands on learning for the day." The two nodded and quickly broke from the crowd, heading off in the direction that Blackstar had disappeared. The rest of the class filed back inside.

Once everyone had disappeared inside Tsubaki spoke. "I'm sure Soul is going to be fine. Blackstar wasn't using the sharp side of the blade during our fight." She knew clearly well that that wasn't what Maka was upset about, but with Maka it was always best to ease into things like this instead of facing them head on.

"I know." Maka sighed in reply. They started to turn back towards the school. "Blackstar's wavelength is coming from the roof. We should hurry up and get him back to Stein's class."

"We can take our time." Tsubaki replied. "It will give him some time to cool off anyway." That was a lie. Blackstar had thrown the fight and she knew it. His fighting style had been different and he had purposely reduced speed right before the attack Soul used to pin him down.

Maka knew it was a lie because she had been watching the battle as well as soul wavelengths. She had seen the purpose disruption in Blackstar's wavelength. She had also seen that despite looking angry as he walked off, Blackstar's soul wavelength had been totally calm.

Tsubaki then decided it would be best to get to the heart of things before Maka dragged them all back to class. "They will find a way to change Soul back Maka. But like lord Death said, it's going to take some time before he can get them here."

Maka looked up in surprise. Even though Tsubaki couldn't read soul wavelengths, she was fantastic at reading people. They walked through the halls towards the stairs to the roof. Silence sat between them for another minute or so while neither of them spoke.

"Thanks Tsubaki." Maka finally said as the smile returned to her face. She would possibly ask Tsubaki why Blackstar had thrown the fight later, but for now she was content.

Tsubaki smiled in return. It was good that Maka was feeling better. She had seemed out of it for the past few days and it was good to have the old Maka back.

They had reached to the door to the roof. Maka pushed it open and they stepped outside. Blackstar was standing as if he had been waiting for them.

"It took you two long enough." He sighed as he walked over to them. Soul was still asleep high above them on the tower roof; at least that was what they had assumed.

The dragon may have had his eyes closed, but he was still wide awake. He listened until he heard the door closed and the sound of feet disappeared. He opened his eyes slowly and looked around. After a moment he slid from the roof and returned to his corner in the courtyard where the sun was. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep again. He was surprised as a deep purr of happiness found its way up his throat.

It wasn't long until he heard footsteps again. He opened his eyes to see that lunch had started and kids were flooding out into the courtyard for lunch. Most of the younger students stilled seemed terrified by his presence, most likely due to his antics from that morning. It was generally accepted though that he would not eat student unless they interrupted him while he was sleeping.

It didn't take long for Maka, Tsubaki, and Blackstar to find him through the crowd. They sat and ate lunch in peace aside from Blackstar bragging about how he had let Soul win. The rest of the day passed by quickly. He went hunting after his friends left for class. He spent the majority of his time flying over the trees and around the city than he spent hunting. Eventually he returned to the school to wait for Maka. They walked to the training field together. Stein drilled him on flying and fire breathing techniques. They also worked on basic fighting techniques and review the fight from that morning. Once they had finished training. Soul walked Maka back to her apartment before returning to the park for the evening.

I apologize for the sucky ending. I didn't quite know how to this chapter so I threw in some fluff. My deepest apologies and a promise I will try to keep it from happening again.


	6. Chapter 5

I'm so sorry for the fluff from the last chapter. There is a little bit more at the beginning of this chapter for the sake of transition. Hopefully my writer's block will blow over soon.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Soul Eater.

Chapter 5

The rest of the week flew by for Soul in a haze between fighting in during Stein's and then training after. The only thing interesting he had actually learned through training was flying while carrying people. The weekend was bound to be more interesting. Shinigami-sama had agreed to recommission him and Maka for missions on Stein's recommendation, with the exception that they would be required to have at least two other teams with them.

They had been set up with Kidd's and Blackstar's teams for a high class mission that weekend. A hundred or so miles north a small village had been completely wiped out and they were being sent to investigate and hunt down what ever had caused such a massacre. He was actually quite pleased that they were being sent to hunt something. In the past week he had become much more clever in the field of hunting a variety of birds and animals that dwelled near the river where he fished. Granted, Blackstar had set up a few hunting snares for him. He could guess why the teams had been chosen specifically by the staff for something dangerous enough to devour a village in one night. He had grown a lot in the past week as well. He had grown at least three feet and had grown from the size of a small car to that of a medium sized buss. He could also stay up in the air for about four hours before he needed any rest.

It was for these reasons also that he had been deemed as the teams' transportation. The six people who where sitting his back in a circle where talking idly. It had taken many hours of coaxing and demonstrations before Maka had agreed to try flying with Soul after her first traumatic experience. The forest below them had steadily been growing thicker and thicker until even Soul with his enhanced vision had trouble seeing through the trees below.

"How much longer are we going to be flying?" Liz called up to Soul. "I'm tired of sitting and I've really got to stretch."

"Only a few more minutes at most now." He answered through resonance link. "I can see where the village used to be up ahead."

"What are we supposed to be hunting anyway?" Blackstar yawned. "It's not like Death gave us any clues to what this thing that we're supposed to hunt down could be."

"Whatever it is, it must be pretty dangerous for the staff to assign it. I doubt that this will be an ordinary mission." Kidd said thoughtfully.

"Even lord Death seemed puzzled by what could have done this." Maka added from behind her book.

"Pft. This mission is going to be a piece of cake." Blackstar boasted. "As long as the great Blackstar is here then there is no reason to worry." Everyone else sighed and shook their heads at this statement, but he ignored them.

Soul angled downwards. The sudden drop caused his passengers to go silent until he had landed. His landing skills still needed work and he was thankful for the silence as he circled downwards through the air. Once his feet hit the ground he continued to run a few steps before slowing to a stop.

They had landed in what had once been the center of the town. The wreckage splintered and crackled under his feet. The town had been more than just ransacked of its people; it had been torn to pieces. Houses had been burned down and torn to pieces. A thin layer of ash clung to the air.

"When they said completely destroyed…" Blackstar began.

"They meant completely." Kidd finished for him. "Father warned me that the damage would be something like this. This isn't the first town to be wiped out like this. There have been a number of other small places like this completely wiped out over the past few weeks. Whoever or whatever that has been devouring all of these human souls is well on its way to becoming a kishin."

The group stood up and jumped from the dragon's back. More ash flew into the air as their feet hit the ground.

"We better work fast to catch this thing. It'd be best if we spread out and try to find clues for what could have done this." Kidd concluded. "Liz, Patty and I will search the east half of the village and Blackstar and Tsubaki can cover the western half. Maka, why don't you and Soul fly around and look for anything suspicious in the area. We may have missed some stuff on our way in and I want to make sure that we didn't miss anything."

They all agreed to meet back at that spot before the sun went down, for safety reasons and because Soul was the one who was carrying their backpacks full of food and other necessities. With that being decided they each headed off in their own directions. Soul and Maka took off with a cloud of ash. Soul circled low a few times, making sure he remembered which directions each of the other two parties went before he finally angled out over the thick forest.

"So do you have any idea what we might be hunting?" Soul asked Maka as they flew over the sea of green. The forest was briefly interrupted by a skinny river of blue before resuming on the other bank.

"Not a clue." She responded. "I've read about all sorts of different types of kishin and witches, but none of them seem to match up with what could have caused this level of damage." She sighed as if she had just failed the entire team because of the fact that she still didn't know everything in the world yet. _'Typical Maka.'_ Soul sighed to himself.

"There are different types of kishin?" he asked suddenly. He knew that witches could have different types of magic, so did that mean that kishin had different types of madness? If so, what type was the black blood? Questions sprang around in his brain until Maka finally conjured an answer.

"There's only one type of madness and all kishin have it, but they will behave differently depending on their psychological profiles." Maka explained. She seemed to brighten up as she explained and Soul smiled to himself. He turned lazily through the air so that they were now flying in a very wide arch around the village, instead of straight away from it. They were to far out to see it from where they were flying. The winding river appeared below them again.

"Wait Soul." Maka said suddenly. "Look down there." She said, pointing down to the bank of the river.

He swerved and banked down to get a closer look at what Maka was talking about. "So it's a big patch of trees that got uprooted. That's no big deal. They probably got blown down in a storm or something."

"Or by whatever destroyed the village." Maka retorted. "Take us down. We need to get a closer look at that." She heard him sigh in defeat and begin to descend towards the ground. Soul snorted and continued his wide spiral downwards until they were skimming above the treetops.

"There's no place to land." Soul complained.

"Can you land in the water?" Maka asked.

Soul eyed it wearily. "There's no telling how deep it is." The only way he would actually be able to land was if it was in one of the large pines that tickled his tail. He hovered heavily above the trees for a moment and before Maka could object he stopped flapping and dropped directly onto the top branch of a sturdy pine. His partner gave a yelp of surprise and wrapped her arms around his neck as she was thrown forward. The tree bent forward under his weight, but held. He could feel the tension ready to launch him into the air as soon as he shifted his weight.

"Soul!" She roared. Soul's ears twitched at the loud outburst. "Why would you do something so stupid?" She snapped.

"We landed and we're all in one piece. I honestly don't see what the problem is here." He sighed. He had just figured out a way to land in unfavorable territory without any help and he was getting scolded for it. Typical.

"You could have gotten us killed." Maka snapped. "And now how do we get down?" She asked smartly. She would regret that question in a minute.

Soul took a step forward on the log, causing it to bend farther forwards. He quickly took another step and the tree swayed precariously. Maka's grip around his neck was beginning to choke him. She seemed to realize this and quickly loosened her grip. He breathed in deep and continued to walk slowly towards the top of the tree. After what felt like forever, they were finally bent close enough to the ground for him to jump down without injuring either of them. He snarled as the tree sprang back up, clipping his tail on its way up.

Maka leapt to the ground with her backpack as soon as Soul had regained his footing enough to stand still. "Come on Soul. We need to go and try to figure out what could have ripped up those trees." She had walked a few steps towards the wreckage when she noticed that Soul wasn't walking behind her. She turned around to see him standing was his nose crinkled in discomfort and his ears back. "What's wrong?" She asked suspiciously. Over the past week she had gotten good at reading the dragon's movements, but this was a no brainer.

"Nothing." He lied. "Just a little jarred from the landing, that's all. I'm coming." Soul walked forward a few paces, trying to keep his tail straight and from touching anything. When he walked it usually swayed behind him to help him keep his balance. Now at its odd angle, he kept tripping and swaying awkwardly from side to side.

Maka watched as he inched forward. "No it's not." She said flatly. "Why are you walking funny? You keep tripping and stumbling from side to side." She eyed the dragon carefully as he continued to stumble towards her. Soul just snorted in response and tried to hide the pain from his face. She didn't buy it for a minute.

"I've told you already Maka. I feel fine." Soul growled as he looked down at his feet. He could feel the blood dripping from his tail and he curled it away from Maka's searching glare. The last thing he needed was another reason for Maka to say, "I told you so."

Maka sighed. They would just have to continue with the mission until Soul's stubbornness gave in and he told her what was really the matter. She turned in surrender and resumed her walk towards the shattered trees. Soul stumbled along behind her. Usually she would have to jog to keep up with his long strides. If he weren't walking his usual pace he would slow down to either walk beside her or just a few steps behind her. It was odd not having his constant presence looming behind her. Instead he was still limping along behind her.

"These trees looked like they were shredded by something extremely sharp." Maka said as she placed a hand on the one of the splintered stumps. From what she could she, it looked like three or four trees had been shredded in the same manner. There were similar gashes in some of the surrounding trees that were still standing. She squinted at the marks. They looked very familiar, but she couldn't put where she had seen them before.

Soul was almost caught up to his partner when his tail scraped against one of the loose pieces of wood. He winced and snarled weakly. Maka immediately turned around to glare at him. It was no point in trying to hide it anymore. He sighed and sat down, curling his tail around to rest on his front paws. It looked much worse in the light. The scales were twisted off in random directions around the tip of his tail and blood was seeping from where a few scales had been ripped off.

"Soul..." Maka sighed. "How did you get that?" She asked slowly, even though she already had a pretty good idea of how he had gotten the injury.

"Jumping out of the tree." He mumbled. His ears were back in shame and eyes closed as he waited for Maka to go off on a rant of about how they were partners and that he shouldn't hide things like that. What he was not expecting was when she pulled a thick roll of gauze from her backpack. "You're not mad?" He asked in surprise.

"No, I'm furious." Maka said coolly. "But right now it's more important that we get your tail cleaned off and bandaged." She took a gentle step forward with gauze in hand. The dragon flinched back as she put a hand his tail. She waited until he relaxed again before she started to wrap the tip of his bloody tail. It was with much twitching and growls that Maka finally managed to finish wrapping the injured portion of the tail. Soul continued to stare off into the distance for a moment before he spoke.

"Those marks on the trees don't look like they're from a blade. They're claw marks from like when a cat sharpens its claws on something." Soul said as his glance shifted from the trees back to Maka.

"What?" She asked, slightly dumbfounded.

"Those are claw marks from when an animal sharpens its claws." Soul stated again.

Maka had heard him perfectly fine the first time. She couldn't believe that Soul had figured it out. Of course they had looked familiar! Blair that cat had left almost identical claw marks on both the couch and kitchen table of their apartment. "So what could have made claw marks that big?" She asked. "It's certainly not a house cat."

"How should I know?" Soul shrugged. He stood up and walked awkwardly to the river rushing by beside them for a drink. It was a slight bit easier to walk with his tail bandaged, but he still felt unbalance without it swaying carelessly behind him. Maka walked up beside him. He was thankful for how careful she was as she sidestepped his sore tail so as not to irritate it more.

"But I do have a guess." He added darkly.

Maka watched as Soul stepped up to the nearest tree and dragged his claws against it. Like he had said, it left a marking nearly identical to those on the other trees. His claws held a silky sheen as the sun glinted off of them.

"So it was a _dragon_ that has been attacking all of these towns? Couldn't it be hundreds of miles away by now? Soul?" Maka stared at him. He had gone stock still. She could see him tense up as he sniffed the air. He gave her a quick look that said it all. It was still close by. Soul stalked over to where she was standing. He was barely breathing, as if he breathed too hard something might hear.

Soul glanced around, trying to find where the noise was coming from. The heavy rustling of movement bounced off of the tree trunks and made it sound as if it was coming from multiple directions. "_Can you hear that Maka?"_ he dared to whisper through the resonance link.

"_That rustling?"_

"_Yeah. Can you tell where it's coming from?" _Soul paced around his meister in a slow circle as he tried to figure out which direction the noise was originating from.

"_No…wait. Did it stop?"_

Soul raised his head, his ears alert. He couldn't hear the heavy shuffling any more. _"But I could have sworn that it was getting closer."_ He continued to pace around slowly. His scales along his spine seemed to puff out, almost like bristles. Something seemed very wrong. He hated when he felt like he left Maka was defenseless. He snarled quietly out of frustration.

A quiet snarl answered him and he froze.

Soul looked down at Maka, who was looking back at him with the same surprised face that he was sure he was wearing. He turned around, trying to find the source of the noise. The soft snarl came again. _"Maka, cover your ears." _She obeyed without question and stood waiting. Soul reared up and roared. The noise blasted through the trees and echoed back at him. He dropped back to the ground and waited.

Maka removed her hands from her ears and looked up at her partner. At any other moment, he probably would have celebrated at the power of the roar. He had grown a lot in the past week and roaring seemed to be the only thing that he had had trouble with. He had finally achieved a new level of deafening.

The ground shook under a crash of thunder.

Maka's hands immediately flew to her ears to block out the roar that had answered Soul's. Her ears rang with the noise. She could see Soul with his paws covering his ears likewise. The noise was probably to the point of unbearable for him. The roar rang like thunder and she could feel it reverberate through her bones. After the sound ended she waited a few moments before removing her hands from her ears just to be sure that it was over. Soul snarled out of agitation. _"Run?" _She asked.

"_Run."_ Soul agreed.

But before they could move an icy voice trapped them.

"Going ssssome where? Perhapssse to find your little friendsss?" The voice was slick, but got caught whenever it came to the letter 's'. It held an inhuman sounding ring to it.

"Show yourself." Maka commanded. Soul snarled a warning from behind her. He had stopped pacing and looked ready to pounce as soon as he could figure out where the voice was coming from. "And how do you know about our friends? They aren't anywhere near here." Maka asked. If she could keep the beast talking long enough then maybe they could figure out where it was hidden.

"Foolish girl. I know many thingsss." The voice snarled. "Why should I show myssself to you?" It seemed to find amusement in the fact that the two companions couldn't figure out where it was hiding.

"Because I'm the one who's going to take your soul." Maka retorted bluntly. She wasn't in the mood for the beast's games. She needed to keep things going her way. "I have an important question. I thought dragons couldn't talk on their own unless established through a resonance link, so how come we can hear you? What makes you so special?" The voice snickered in a way that raised the hairs on the back of her neck. It was clearly a mocking tone.

"That dragon bessside you isss really ssso primeval that it can't even ssspeak?" The voice snickered. "And how it listensss to you like a tamed beassst? Ssshameful." The voice spat. "Even a dragon as ssscrawny asss that should have no trouble picking apart a weakling like you." It hissed. Then it sighed. "The both of you barely make a fitting meal, but I'm hungry now ssso you'll have to do. I can alwaysss eat your friendsss next."

There was a huge snapping in the trees above them. Maka looked up to see the mass of red scales dove towards her partner. I heavy blow from Soul's tail sent her flying backwards and out of the way from the other dragon's attack. She stood up to see the two glaring at each other. She didn't like what she saw. The red dragon was only a few feet taller than Soul, but unlike Soul it was covered in thick spikes and a heavy layer of muscle. Despite the minor height difference, the other dragon looked a couple hundred pounds heavier. It was licking its lips hungrily as it glared at the pair. Soul was standing between her and the other dragon defensively. His bandaged tail was bleeding again and bloodstains were beginning to show through the white fabric.

"Are you sssure you won't let me ssstart with the appetizer?" The other dragon teased. "I hate to ssstart on the main courssse." Soul growled angrily and snapped at the other dragon as it took a step as if to go around him. The red dragon turned and lunged at Soul head on. Soul quickly dodged under the other dragon's outstretched claws and attacked its unprotected belly with a fireball. The blast sent them both stumbling backwards, causing Maka to quickly leap out of harm's way as Soul was blown through the air. She immediately recognized the tactic as something that Professor Stein had made worked on in their training. Soul was much quicker to get back on his feet than his opponent. He quickly launched another fireball that knocked the other dragon back to the ground.

"_Maka you need to get out of here. Go find Kidd and Blackstar." _Soul growled, not letting his gaze slip from the other dragon. "_I'll hold this guy off for a while then catch up with you. I'm a lot faster than him._"

"I'm not leaving you here alone." She replied stubbornly as she crossed her arms. The other dragon groaned as it heaved itself up onto one leg.

"_This isn't a debate!" _ Soul roared. "_You're in danger of getting crushed or blown up if you stay here. I'll be fine! Go!"_ The other dragon was pulling a second leg up under it and lifting itself higher off the ground.

Maka had to agree with his logic. Without him being able to turn into a scythe for her to fight with she was only liable to get hurt. Soul was having a hard enough time without constantly trying to stay between her and the other dragon. The red dragon was pulling up its third foot now. She looked down in defeat. "Fine. I'm going to go around wide and cross the river farther downstream in the direction of the village. You get five more minutes of fighting. Don't be late." She snarled. Soul nodded and she took off running in the opposite direction of the fight. The other dragon had finally managed to pull itself up onto all four feet and was roaring mad.

The sound of roaring and the two dragons fighting continued to chase her from the battle site. Bright flashes of fire lit up the spot of where they were fighting. She used the light as a marker. Once she figured she was far enough away from the fighting she looped back and ran towards the river. She couldn't see the battle site as she stood on its edge, but she could still here the sounds of the fight continuing. She quickly splashed through the shallow, icy water and continued running. After a few more minutes of running the sound of fighting abruptly stopped. She halted for a minute to listen. She heard a splash and then the sound of something large crashing through the brush. _'I better go check that Soul is ok. Plus it'll be faster for both of us if we can fly out of here.'_ She thought. Making a quick turn, she started to run in the direction of the noise. It was getting closer and closer. The heavy foliage cleared away as she ran into an open clearing.

Before she could stop running a giant paw caught her and pinned her to the ground. The air was knocked from her lungs and she gasped. Her ribs were being crushed under the heavy force. She had been so stupid. Of course she had assumed it was Soul! She mentally scolded herself for running in blindly. That was the kind of thinking that got her and Soul hurt when they were in fights like this.

The red dragon licked its lips in the same hungry way it had before, only now its face was devoid of its mocking manor. It was completely enraged. Maka could see that Soul had definitely done a number on its patience. Some of its scales were ruffled and there was a large burn mark across the beast's tale. There were also a few new scars to the dragon's thick hide that certainly hadn't been there before. When the dragon moved she could see a long cut in the membrane of one of its wings. But where was the white dragon?

As if on cue, there was a heavy crashing from the trees behind the red dragon and Soul stumbled out. He charged forward delivered a blow that threw the other dragon into the air. Maka quickly scrambled to her feet and out of the way of the two dueling dragons. Soul looked furious. She hadn't seen the dragon that mad since the time she had almost been mugged on her way home from Deathmart at night.

The red dragon landed on the ground with a thick smack. It couldn't fly between the injuries it had sustained between its wing and tail. Soul threw another blast of fire at it. Maka was surprised as it changed colors half way through the air. The flames burned from a bright red into a deep electric blue. Something looked different about the flames as they transformed. They burned less and crackled with raw energy. The blue flames, unlike the red ones, ate through the red dragons thick armor until it disappeared and a fat red soul was left hanging in the air.

Soul turned back from towards Maka and she flinched at his wounds. He was more than worse for the wear. Most of his white scales had been dyed red by cuts across his scales and open flesh. There was a scar a black-charred scales running down the back of his neck. One of his wings was bent at an odd angle as well. To top that all off the tip of his tail that had been wrapped earlier looked as if it had been bitten off.

"_Are you ok?"_ He asked her. Soul had decided to completely ignore the soul floating behind him until he knew the answer. He was mad enough at himself for letting his opponent daze him long enough to run off and try to make a meal of his partner.

"I'm fine." Maka breathed. "You don't look so good though." She added cautiously. He had seemed to have begun to calm down a bit and his soul wavelength was returning to its normal pace.

"I'll survive." He replied shortly. That was the truth. He would survive, but at the moment his entire body felt like it was on fire. "It's really not as bad as it looks." He said reassuringly to his skeptical partner. He turned and took a few pained steps towards the pre-kishin soul before he stumbled. Maka glared suspiciously at him. "I'm just tired from flying all morning and then fighting." He sighed. "I'll be fine." He repeated as he got up from where he had fallen. He reached out and swallowed the glowing soul. It felt hot like fire as it slid down his throat. Souls usually didn't have a temperature, but he wasn't about to start complaining and worry Maka even more. The warm feeling of the soul started to spread through his limbs as it landed in the pit of his stomach.

Maka watched in amazement as the dragon revealed another surprise. Soul's wounds had started to close up and disappear after he had eaten the red dragon's soul. Within a few minutes he looked completely fit again. By the amused look on his face she assumed that he was just as surprised as she was as his injuries disappeared before their eyes.

"Told you that I'd be fine." Soul smirked. He turned quickly to check to see if his tail was still damaged from the fight. He grinned in delight at the sight of his tail being whole and unscarred. It felt good to have his balance back! Even though he was healed of his injuries, he was still filthy from the fight.

"How did you do that?" Maka asked suspiciously.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "It was the soul. It felt different from the others, but I'm not complaining." He said as he took another thankful glance back at his restored tail.

"But that's never happened before when you've eaten a pre-kishin soul." Maka pointed out.

"But this wasn't just a kishin soul, it's a dragon's soul as well." Soul retorted. "Stein told me that even though not all dragon souls are kishin eggs, all of them have traces of magic that varies between how strong the dragon is." He explained. "That's the only reason I can think of for why the soul reacted in the way that it did."

Maka was surprised. Soul never paid this much attention to Stein's class during school or even during school as a whole. She had to admit that when it came to the professor's new classes outside Soul had actually bothered to show up to class a few times to humor them. He had of course also refused to perform simple demonstrations for their lessons such as when Stein asked him to fly or breath fire. Despite his attendance being better than usual, he would still often leave class in an attempt to find something more interesting to do. Stein tried assigning teams at the beginning of each class to try and stop him from leaving, but eventually the idea was disbanded after Soul had burned the eyebrows off a boy who had thought it would be funny to wake up the dragon while he was sleeping.

"So what do we do now?" Soul asked through her thick cloud of thoughts. The dragon was pacing back and forth impatiently as he waited for Maka's mind to catch up with the present.

It took his partner a few minutes before she answered. "I need to refill my water bottle, so we should so that first and then go meet up with Blackstar and Kidd." She answered. Soul grinned. Maka always had a plan. He followed her as she started to walk in the direction of the sound of gurgling water.

Maka hadn't fully realized how thick the forest actually was until she pushed through the last stubborn shrub and out onto the gravelly banks of the river. "Hey Soul, can you fly us out of here?" She asked as she stooped next to the water to refill her empty canteen.

He snorted. "We'll be lucky if I'm fit for flying tomorrow. I've never flown as long as I have today before and I doubt that I'll be able to get us all the way back to Death City tomorrow." He answered.

Maka stood up and re-capped her water bottle. She waited patiently as Soul walked downstream where the water was deeper and waded into the water. He ducked under the water a few times until he was sure that he had gotten as clean as he could get under the circumstances. He walked back over to where Maka was waiting.

"If we're walking then we better get going." Maka said. "It's getting close to the time that we said we'd meet back and the sun is starting to go down. I don't want to have to walk through the pitch black forest at night."

"I said we couldn't fly." Soul interrupted before she could go on. "But never did I say that we would have to walk. Besides, you walk slowly anyway. At your pace we wouldn't get back to the village until tomorrow anyway."

The dragon sat down and waited until Maka was situated on his back and her hands were wrapped securely around his neck before he started to run. He went slowly at first, but eventually they were covering the forest floor at a steady speed as trees whirled by them. It took them longer than it would have if they had been flying, but was infinitely faster to Maka sprinting after Soul. There was no way that she could have matched his pace. She could see the trees beginning to this around them. It wasn't long before they broke from the tree line and into the outskirts of the ruined village. The time had long since passed since they were due to meet their team and the sky was growing golden. Soul didn't begin to slow down until they were a block from the center of the ruined town. He slowed to a steady trot.

"I can't feel their wavelengths." Maka said as she searched for the rest of their hunting party. "They aren't anywhere within the town limits." She said cautiously.

Soul immediately slowed to cautious walk. It was like he was almost stalking an invisible deer for his lunch. He circled the town square before finally wandering cautiously into the circle. He stopped as Maka jumped to the ground next to him. The sun was beginning to sink behind the tops of the trees and a chilled wind greeted them from the north.

"I'm getting a bad feeling that that dragon knew something we didn't." Maka wondered aloud.

"I've been thinking the same." Soul agreed. "That dragon was only a little bit bigger than me, which means that he's no where near big enough to devour a village, let alone multiple ones, alone." He said darkly. "That's how the dragon we were fighting knew about Kidd and Blackstar when we were so far away from where we left them. It wasn't here alone." Their friends were being hunted by dragons.

Cliffhanger much? The first part of two! Part two coming soon. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Recommendations? Suggestions? Review and comment!


	7. Chapter 6

Firstly, I do apologize for how long it's taken to get this out. It was because of school that I did not have any time to write (ironic, isn't it). Anyway, now with the Summer I shall hopefully have more time to write when I'm not at work. Again, I do apologize.

Part two of two! It speaks for itself.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Soul Eater.

Chapter 6

"_That's how the dragon we were fighting knew about Kidd and Blackstar when we were so far away from where we left them." He said darkly. " It wasn't here alone." _

_Their friends were being hunted by dragons._

Silence sat between the partners as they contemplated what to do. Soul didn't feel like he could fight off another dragon, much less however many more where in the area. Even though his injuries had been healed, his scales still stung from where they had been ripped and burned. It was getting late too. Flying through the dark would make it hard enough to locate their friends, but he still wasn't recovered enough to fly. He had barely had anything to eat because they had left so early that morning and was in desperate need of some hunting time. Maka would most likely push them on after their friends, ignoring all objections and excuses he could come up with.

He was surprised when she spoke.

"It's been a long day. Even if you could fly we would still have almost no chance of finding the rest of the team in the dark. We should probably stay here for the night." She sighed in defeat. "We can hunt down everyone else in the morning. There's no point of wandering blindly into pointless danger. We don't know how many enemies we're up against, but I'm sure the Kidd and Blackstar can handle them."

Soul silently thanked Death. Maka didn't always make the best choices, but now and again she really had her moments. He was brought back from his thoughts as his miester started forming a plan aloud. She ran down the list of things that she always did when they were on long missions.

"We've already got water, so we don't need that. I guess that there's no chance of trying to find any buildings that are still safe to stay in." Her face crinkled in thought. "I guess we could just clear some of the rubble away. Starting a fire would probably attract too much attention to where we are. We have some food packed in the bags we brought, but I doubt that it is enough to feed both of us." She said as she looked at her partner with concern.

"I'm fine." Soul lied. The glare Maka shot him made it clear that she saw right through his bored tone. "I'll survive." He corrected. Maka seemed a little bit more satisfied by the answer and returned to running through her itinerary.

Maka was still suspicious. Usually if Professor Stein kept Soul a few minutes late in class to finish a demonstration the dragon would start to grow irritated. That was only if he was a few minutes late to his meal. By now he had missed at least two meals and still hadn't complained. She wasn't buying that her partner wasn't hungry, but he didn't seem to be in any shape to hunt anything down. In fact, she wasn't even exactly sure what the dragon ate in the first place. He would always disappear to hunt and then return some time later. She often stayed up late studying and had noticed as his soul wavelength crossed overhead when he left and returned from hunting. More than once she had fallen asleep while waiting for when the dragon would circle over the apartment before returning to the park.

"I'm too tired to hunt anyway." Soul complained. With a swipe of his tail he brushed a pile of rubble away and sunk down on the soft earth. He was beginning to regret not eating anything when they had been back by the river. Not being able to fly off on his own was another reason he couldn't hunt. And that Maka was there. He didn't like eating with other people around and he certainly didn't want to be eating with Maka around. Comparing starving to leaving his partner alone, he would choose starving.

"What do you usually eat anyway? I've never really seen any animals in the forest." Maka asked as she up looked at the dragon. His head was nearly eye-level when he laid down flat. "You always sneak off to eat. It's not like we don't know you hunt."

Soul fidgeted at the question for a moment before answering. "Yeah, but it's not exactly the prettiest of scenes." He replied coolly. "Usually I just eat fish. There are rabbits and deer in the forest, but they're harder to catch, so I usually just eat fish." He repeated, sighing. "I know I've always liked raw fish, but after we figure out how to change me back from a dragon I swear that I'm probably never going to eat it again. Why the sudden interest?" He asked suspiciously, picking up his head and turning to look at his partner.

"Just curious." Maka shrugged. "You'd think that lord Death could get that team with the dragon soul back to Shibusen faster to help sort this whole thing out." She wondered aloud. "I know that they're on some important mission, but you'd think that they would try to wrap it up a soon as they could to get back to help out."

Soul smirked. "It's not like you to be this impatient Maka. Usually you're all for Death taking his sweet time and about not rushing important missions." He stopped briefly to acknowledge her glare before continuing. "I'll admit that it's not cool how Shinigami-sama isn't putting this on his rush jobs. I'm sick of being one of Stein's science projects and the main focus of class. If that wasn't bad enough, I'm constantly paranoid that he's going to announce a dissection during class and pick me apart scale by scale." He growled.

Maka could sympathize with that. Just imagining being the main subject of one of Professor Stein's classes made her shiver. It wasn't like it had been the easiest for her either. She was sick of getting partner requests at school. News had traveled fast that the dragon was Soul Eater Evans and she had been surprised when people jumped at the chance to be her partner. After the first incident of when someone asked her in front of Soul, she was usually asked in the hallways or on the way to class. She had tried to make it very clear that she was not looking for a new partner. Maka had taken to dodging and avoiding the questions by always rushing from her locker out to the courtyard where Soul was waiting as fast as she could. Occasionally she caught the dragon glowering at weapons that had asked to be her partner. She wasn't exactly sure how he kept finding out which people had asked her during school, but she had strong suspects of a ninja that could be informing to her partner.

Soul yawned widely before he set his head on his paws. Maka walked up next to him and sat down, leaning back against the dragon's thick ribcage. He lifted his head as Maka pulled the fairy tale book from her bag and started reading aloud. He always saw Maka reading the book, but she always started where she had previously left off when reading with him. He suspected that she had already read the book cover to cover multiple times and carried it around just to humor him.

Maka read until it was too dark for her to see the pages. She closed the book after carefully marking the page and stowed it back in her bag. The only thing she could really make out of the shadows was Soul's glowing eyes. They were watching as she put the book away. As she met them they quickly flicked up to scan the dark tree line like they had seen something move. The dragon tensed slightly and continued to stare at something she couldn't see. It wasn't until Soul put his head down that she realized she had been holding her breath. She quickly took a gulp of air and resumed her normal breathing. Maka closed her eyes.

Whatever could be said for sleep, neither of the two got much of it. Soul had essentially stayed up all night watching as invisible beasts that prowled the shadows around their campsite, just out of her sight. He had growled more that once to ward them off and hadn't even tried to sleep afterwards. Maka at least got some more rest, even though she was woken up once or twice by Soul's warnings. She eventually fell asleep with her backpack as a pillow in the dragon's shadow. The two were still both exhausted when the sun finally rose over the dark treetops.

Soul stood up with a stiff growl. He shook the tiredness from his head and looked around. There were a few small tracks scattered around the area, but to his relief there was no sigh that any other dragons had been roaming around the past night. His suspicions confirmed, he turned his attention to something much more important. His stomach rumbled angrily and he flinched. He had missed meals before he was a dragon, but missing even one now was a bad idea. He turned to see Maka had stood up as well had slung her backpack over one shoulder. Soul decided that there was no way she could have missed the thundering growl of his stomach, so she was obviously ignoring it for the time being. He doubted that he wouldn't hear more about it later though.

"So which way are we heading first?" Soul asked tiredly.

"The river." Maka replied shortly. "I need to refill my water bottle one more time before we set off to find Kidd and Blackstar. Can you fly us today?"

Soul flexed his wings carefully. He was glad that they no longer felt like lead and shifted with their usual movement. Maka took his pleased look as a yes and climbed up to where she had sat the previous day. Soul lifted off the ground easily, but not as quickly as he normal was when flying with one person. He was still tired and sore, so he felt safe saying that his flying wasn't up to its usual standards. He flew low over the tree, barely scraping their tops as he passed overhead. The dragon had been contemplating whether or not to take a rest in one of the large pines when the river cut across the ground in front of him. He quickly landed next to the water.

Maka jumped to the ground and quickly filled her water bottle in the shallow water. Soul stood waiting where he had landed. He was eyed her suspiciously for a moment before dragging himself over to the water's edge. She waited patiently as her partner swallowed a few mouthfuls of water. He took a step a little further into the deep water and stood staring at the water. Before she could ask what he was doing, Soul snapped at the water. She barely saw the glittering fish before it disappeared down the dragon's throat. Maka took a few steps back and waited until Soul waded back from the water. He was looking much more awake and his signature smirk was plastered to his face.

"Ready for some dragon hunting?" He grinned. He felt much better after eating and made a note to eat another meal first thing after they found their friends.

The ground quickly vanished from under their feet as Soul launched into the sky. He was still tired, but not dragging quite as much as he had been before breakfast. He had decided that it would probably be best to fly fast and low. If they flew too high he risked them missing something and he was aiming for the minimum amount of flying it would take to find their friends. Most likely they would try to fly back to Shibusen and he didn't want to waste any more energy than necessary. The trees broke away from under them as he soared out over the deserted village. He circled it twice, double-checking that he had not missed anything as they sped above the wreckage.

"See anything?" Maka asked him over the roaring wind as they turned to circle over the wreckage a third time.

"No, I don't think that they're here. Can you feel anything with soul perception?" He called back. He stopped mid air and hovered. It took more energy to hang in the air than it did to soar, but it still took less than if they were to circle the village again. Plus, it would be easier for Maka to use soul perception while staying in the same place.

Maka agreed in tried. She stretched out her mind, searching for any sign if their friends. It had barely taken a minute when she opened her eyes again. Their friends were surprisingly close. She had felt their soul wavelengths coming from the opposite direction that her and Soul had just come from. She told her partner and they sped off back over the trees once again in the opposite direction. They did not have to travel far before Soul spotted their companions in the distance and sped towards them. Some how all of their friends had managed to find each other. Soul landed in the braches of a tree before jumping down to the earth. The experience was very unpleasant and Maka quickly jumped down from the dragon's back.

"We've been looking for you." Kidd said in a matter of fact tone as Maka and the dragon walked over to join them.

"Yeah. What took you so long?" Blackstar asked. "You'll never guess what we ran into!"

"A dragon." Soul replied shortly. He grinned slightly as Blackstar's face fell.

"How'd you know?" He asked suspiciously.

"We ran into one as well," Maka replied back.

"So did we," Kidd added in a troubled tone. "I'm sure that my father will want to know about this."

After quickly recounting their stories, they decided that it would be best for them to all head back to Shibusen. The flight was quieter than on the way out to the site of the destroyed village. Maka and Soul had not been the only ones to have a rough time finding rest during the night in the forest. They had to stop twice so that Soul could stretch and eat to regain his strength. By the time they finally arrived back at the school it was close to dusk. Kidd insisted that they all go to see lord Death and tell him what happened. The group filed tiredly through the deserted school. Kidd had even insisted that Soul join them. He slunk behind the rest of the group.

To be honest, Soul was surprised that he had even been able to fly the far distance a second day in a row, let alone walk afterwards. He was completely drained of his energy. When he had just been carrying Maka it hadn't been too bad, but flying six people took a heavy toll on him.

"Hello!" Death greeted them as they entered the Death Room. Soul was not paying attention. His entire body was aching from the long flight and lack of sleep. He immediately walked a little way off from where everyone else was standing and sunk to the ground. Death waited patiently as the dragon curled up and turned his head so that he could watch as Death spoke.

"So how did your mission go? Did you find out what wiped out that village?" Death asked curiously in his whimsical voice. The three meisters each took turns explaining what had happened once they got separated from each other. The weapons helped fill in some details of the stories, Soul saying the least out of all of them. He faded in and out of sleep as Blackstar and Kidd recounted the events of their trips. Death nodded throughout the stories and listened carefully, occasionally asking a question here and there. He seemed generally surprised to learn that the group had encountered three dragons and seemed slightly worried by the fact. They reached the end of their stories and Death stood in thought, obviously troubled by the appearance of the three dragons.

"So has there been any word from the dragon-weapon team? Are they back yet?" Kidd asked, breaking the silence.

"Ah! I'm glad that you asked. The two got back just this afternoon! They're resting now that they're back in town, but they've agreed to see you tomorrow. I was going to send them out after you tomorrow, but you're back now so that won't be necessary. I think that all of you will be excused from class for the time being, just until this is sorted out." Maka looked as if she would be sick at the thought of missing class. Everyone else was too tired to show much interest, but brightened up slightly at the fact that they would be missing classes for an indefinite period of time. "This should be exciting having them back to train you all. It seems like just yesterday that they were students at the academy." Death reminisced. "It has also been a while since they've been back in Death City. You all look tired!" He interjected suddenly. "Go home and get some rest! Come here at noon tomorrow to meet your new instructors. Stein will still be helping in your training as well."

With that he dismissed the exhausted students, who had barely been paying attention to Death's last few words. They all trudged from the hall and separated for their respective homes. Soul, despite being exhausted from the day of flying, insisted on walking Maka home before slouching back to the park which he now called home. He was happy to find that no one had disregarded the sign that it was closed and to find that the park was still deserted. He slouched over to where the familiar basketball court was. He curled up on the grass next to the court. The ground had never felt more comfortable. It did not take long for the dragon to sink into a deep sleep.

"Should we wake him up?"

"If we don't then we'll be late."

"But he did fly us all the way back yesterday. He's probably still exhausted."

"But still, this is really important."

The familiar voices faded in through his sleep. He tried to ignore them and sink back into sleep.

"Hey Soul! Wake up!" Something prodded his nose.

His eyes slid open slowly to reveal the ring of his friends standing about him. Blackstar, who was standing closest, looked to be the one responsible for waking him up. The bright sun was already high in the sky. _'Great. I've missed breakfast.'_ He turned again to squint at his friends. What were they arguing about again?

"Ready to go see the dragon-weapon team?" Kidd asked.

He quickly rose to his feet; completely having forgotten about the fact the he might be turned back into a human. Unfortunately, he had tried to get to his feet to soon and collapsed back down to the ground. He slowly got up and stretched his sore muscles. Everyone waited until he was finished. His stomach gave a low growl. He turned his eyes onto them.

"Sorry, but we don't have time for you to hunting today Soul. It's nearly noon already." Maka said. "We need to go to the school to meet the dragon-weapon. We'll be lucky if we make it to the meeting on time."

Soul snorted in distaste, but nodded anyway. Once he was ready, they all set out for Death Room. Soul, who was too tired to fly, ended up walking with the group on the ground. The steps leading up to the school were a nightmare though. He had forgotten how far it was on foot. Not only that, but it was also an awkward length for his longer strides. By the time they were up the steps they were fairly late. In the courtyard to the school, only two people were left milling about in front of the school. He had never seen either of them before, but then again the school was huge. The two looked about roughly the same age as him and the rest of his friends. One was a tall boy with short back hair that was kept an unruly mess. His friend was a shorter girl with her golden-brown hair pulled back into a ponytail.

Neither of them looked up as the dragon and his friends started walking across the courtyard to the school. It wasn't until they were nearly even with the odd couple that they finally looked up. At the sight of the dragon, they looked mildly interested. He was honestly surprised that they hadn't run away, as most people would have done when faced with a dragon.

"You nearly half an hour late."

The group tuned to look at the girl who had just spoken. She and her partner stood up and walked over to where the group was standing.

"Death-sama said you were supposed to be here at noon." The boy said as the pair stopped in front of the group.

"You're the dragon-weapon team?" Blackstar laughed in surprise. "You're the same age as we are. I thought we were supposed to be meeting a dragon."

In a flash the ninja was pinned down. Everyone else, including Soul, jumped back. The boy with the black hair had vanished in a whisk of fiery smoke and a giant black dragon had taken his place. He was giant compared to Soul, who was barely half the size of the black dragon. The other dragon lifted the paw, which Blackstar was trapped under, freeing the ninja to get back to his feet. Soul quickly took a small step to the side. When he had jumped back earlier he had subconsciously positioned himself in between the other dragon and his meister. He felt the color rise slightly in his face and he hoped that the silver scales hid his embarrassment. The next thing the dragon did surprised them even more.

It eyed Soul for a second, and then in another flash of flames shrunk down to match the size of the silver dragon. Granted the black dragon seemed to be thicker and have more muscle on him than Soul did.

"So, you were looking for the dragon-weapon team?" The girl asked casually, as if the nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. "I'm Terra and this is my partner Caelo. It's nice to meet you." Terra smiled.

"I'm Maka and this is my partner Soul." Maka said, stepping forward. "We were wondering if you could help us." She said, immediately cutting to the point.

"Well that all depends on what you need help with." Caelo said, sitting back on his hind legs.

The dragon had talked!

There was so many things that Maka wanted to know: how to change Soul back, how the dragon could talk, et cetera. The dragon-weapon pair seemed to see the confusion on their faces and burst out laughing.

"You really don't know anything yet, do you?" Terra asked. "Well then I guess that we'll just have to start from the beginning." She said more to herself than to any of the people standing around her. "Caelo, can you help us out with this? From the beginning, I think." She asked the dragon sitting next to her. Something passed between the dragon and meister and he nodded obediently. He turned towards the silver dragon that was standing and waiting across from him. The black dragon sucked in a deep breath of air and released a torrent of golden flames at the silver dragon.

The group of students jumped out of the way of the flames.

"What are you doing?" Maka yelled as the golden flames consumed her partner. Unlike the flames of the red dragon, they golden flames stuck to her partner and quickly spread until the silver dragon was no longer visible under the glow.

Tsubaki and the Thompson sisters were already transformed into weapon form and were pointed at the strange dragon and meister, who looked bored as they watched the scene play out.

Soul didn't have time to react. The flames hit him full on and engulfed him. He flinched back, expecting them to blast away his scales. He expected the unpleasant felling of the fire scorching him. But it didn't come. Unlike the flames of the red dragon that he had fought, these flames were cool, like water. They fell over him and some of the ache of the previous day slipped away. He felt strangely light, almost as if he were melting. He opened his eyes cautiously, unsure of what to expect. He half expected the flames to burn his eyes as when he opened them, but they did not. All that he could see was the soft gold of the flames. He closed his eyes once again and waited.

I'm going to surpass you!" Blackstar yelled, charging forwards towards the unprotected meister.

In a flash of fire the black dragon was replaced once again. Terra moved at lightning speed and caught the weapon. She managed to get the hammer around just in time to block Blackstar's attack. She caught the blade of the sword against the shaft of the hammer. In one smooth movement she twisted the hammer so that Blackstar was thrown backwards once again. She set the hammer down before sitting down and leaning against it, watching the dragon engulfed in flames. She ignored Blackstar's threats. She said but one word in response.

"Wait."

It was a few minutes before he finally felt the flames fade.

He opened his eyes, feeling strangely off balance and tired from the experience. He was still immensely sore. Just what had that accomplished? He lifted a hand a rubbed tried to rub the sunlight from his eyes. He lifted his hand! He stared at the skin as if he had never seen it before.

Blackstar's angry ranting had stopped. All eyes turned to Soul. The dragon-weapon and meister sat watching them. The Caelo looked more than a little bit smug about his work and Terra had nodded in agreement.

"Wha… What did you do?" His voice sounded rough and unused. His mouth felt as if it were made of lead. The words formed slowly at first, but grew easier as he progressed. "How did you do that?" He looked down at himself. He was still were the same clothes that he had been when he had been turned into a dragon. He ran a hand through his hair and over his face. The skin felt so weird. Not to mention his balance was still off. It felt strange that he no longer had the two wings on either side of him or the long tail to help keep him balanced.

Terra grinned. "That was lesson number one."

Whoo hoo! New chapter review if you liked it or have something to say! I love to read your comments! :D


	8. Chapter 7

A new story out in only two days? WHAT?!

It's time for a flashback chapter! Back to the origins of the dragon-weapon team and how they began. These two are good friends now, but don't think that things were always like this between them. Warning: It's a sad, bloody chapter. :(

_*Note: The story is in present time with the rest of the series until the font switches to italics, at which point the flashback is taking place. (Minus the line from the last chapter.)_

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Soul Eater.

_Terra grinned. "That was lesson number one."_

"Time for lesson two," Caelo said, having transformed back into a human. "Try changing back into a dragon. You should be able to switch between the it now without any trouble."

With a small flash of flames, the silver dragon replaced her partner again.

"What did you do?" Soul asked. The words had escaped his mouth before he had time to stop them. They sounded weird, but he was excited by the fact that he could now speak while in dragon form.

"Normally you would have to fight witches and get magic from them to speed up the process that allows you to switch between dragon, human, and weapon form. We simply sped up the process for you." Terra grinned. "The stronger a dragon gets, the more magic and fire power it gets. That was an example of combining the to, but you have a long way to go until you'll be able to do something like that. Are you ready to get started?"

It was at that moment that Soul's stomach decided to interject loudly. The dragon-weapon and his meister looked at him with grins of amusement plastered across their faces.

"You really shouldn't come to class without having eaten. It's not good for your focus." Caelo joked. "Come on, we'll take a break from class to take you to get some food. You won't be of much use if you're more worried about your stomach than anything else." Before the other dragon could object, he transformed back into the large black dragon. Using his tail, the black dragon carefully lifted his meister up onto his back.

Despite his objections of not wanting people to watch him eat, Soul finally gave in to their new teacher and agreed that everyone should come. Because he was still tired from the previous day, Caelo agreed to carry their group of passengers. Unlike Soul, the larger dragon seemed to have no trouble carrying seven passengers.

They flew off in the direction of his normal hunting spot, but instead of stopping along the river, the other dragon insisted that they continue flying for a bit. He insisted that there was a better spot with a waterfall just upstream of where they were. Unwilling to fight the other dragon, he kept on flying. Even without passengers Soul had trouble keeping up. His wings felt as if they were made out of lead.

His heart leapt as his wings faltered and he dropped sharply through the air. The wind was knocked out of him as one of the black dragon's clawed paws caught him and held him aloft in the air.

"Death told us the distance that you've flown over the past few days. It is quite an impressive distance. We're here now." The other dragon stated. He set Soul down before landing a few feet away before letting his passengers down.

Soul couldn't deny that the place where they were now was much nicer and bigger than his usual hunting spot. The river was wider and deeper here because of the large waterfall that cracked down over the rocks. On both banks the trees had been cleared away to leave a large open area, which was more than big enough to accommodate the two dragons.

Caelo waded into the water, snatching up fish that were caught in some of the smaller pools created by the rocks. After watching for a bit, Soul's hunger finally got the best of him and he joined the other dragon in the water. Off to the side the others where more busy talking with Terra than watching the dragons, except for Blackstar who eventually left to join the dragons in a competition to see who could catch the most fish.

Soul still felt slightly awkward that there were people around, but the presence of the other dragon took his mind away from them for a while. After the dragons were full, they rejoined the rest of the group. Both dragons shrunk back down to human form. Caelo picked an old log up and placed it in the center of the circle of sitting people. It blazed to light as a flash of fire escaped from Caelo's mouth.

"So how did you two even get partnered up in the first place?" Maka asked curiously.

"Well that's a long story." Caelo growled, "And it's not one we tell often."

"I think they at least deserve to know this, Cae." His partner retorted. "Eventually it's going to come up again so we might as well just tell them now while we have the time."

Her partner gave a sigh of defeat and nodded in agreement.

"So it all started about three years ago…"

"_How was I supposed to know that they would be that strong?" Raul groaned, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head._

"Wait, who's Raul?" Maka interjected.

"Terra's old partner." Caelo explained.

"So what happened to him?" Blackstar asked.

"We're getting to that." Terra snapped back.

"_If you keep rubbing the back of your head and removing the bandages then the back of your head will never heal." Terra smiled from behind a newspaper. "Look out the window or something. The train will be back in Death City soon enough and we can have you bandages checked again." She looked over the edge of the newspaper she had been reading to see the blond haired boy sign and turn his attention to the countryside that was whisking past them outside._

_The mission hadn't been too hard for their ninety-ninth soul, which meant that the only the only soul that they had left to collect would be one witch's soul and their training would be complete._

_Surely enough they arrived in the station on time and entered the city. They were supposed to go to straight to the Death Room to speak with lord Death before heading out on their mission._

"_Oi! Terra! Raul!"_

_The two whisked around. Raul was in weapon form within an instant and Terra barely managed to parry the arrow that had been shot at her in time. In a flash the katana knocked it out of the air and in a flash of steps it was at the neck of her attackers._

"_You're getting slow." The other meister laughed._

_Terra cocked a questioning eyebrow at the boy who was still holding a bow in one hand and his next arrow in the other._

"_It's been a while, Lex. How are you and Roc doing?" She smiled, lowering the blade. Both weapons, katana and bow, transformed back into their human counterparts and shook hands. When they were younger the two pairs had been formed into one larger team, but now that they were more experienced and excelling they had more opportunities for solo work. Roc and Lex were a few years older than she and Raul where, but they were still about on par when it came to fighting skills._

"_Better than ever," Roc grinned as he shook her hand. "You two seem to be doing pretty good as well._

"_So how'd your last mission go?" Raul grinned._

"_Great, we're up to ninety-nine," Roc, the weapon, responded._

"_Yeah, we were just headed to see Death. By the looks of it you were too?" Lex asked._

_Terra nodded. "We were about to go and get our witch assignment so that we could head out tomorrow after we're rested up a bit." She explained._

"_Same here." Lex smiled back at her. "We can go together."_

"_Careful Raul or I'll be a death scythe first." Roc joked._

"_Ha! There's no way! I've got the better meister, after all." He grinned back._

_And so the four left the station together. During the long walk to the Death Room they took turns recounting their previous missions and catching up on things. _

"Oh! Did Lex like Terra?" Patty giggled.

Both Terras' and Caelos' faces turned slightly pink at the question.

"No, Patty. It's definitely more obvious that Raul was the one who liked Terra."

"So back to the story," Terra cut in before they could carry the conversation any farther.

_The two pairs arrived at the Death Room where Shinigami-sama was waiting for them._

"_You're both back? Good! I was hoping that you all would be back around the same time." He explained happily. "So all was a success?" The four students nodded. "Good! It's time that you all got your witch assignments then so that you can become death scythes. I have a particular one that I want each of you to take on. For Terra and Raul there is Ursa, the bear witch, and for Lex and Roc there is Ignis, the fire witch. Both of them have been causing us a lot of trouble lately and attacking our weapons and meisters. It would be a real help if you could take care of them for us."_

"_Leave it to us." Lex smirked before turning to address the other team. "See you back here at our death scythe ceremony."_

"_See you back here at OUR death scythe ceremony," Raul smirked back. "Come on, Terra. We need to pack before setting out tomorrow."_

_The four left and the two teams split up to return to their respective apartments. All of them had fire of excitement burning inside themselves as they thought about the adventure that awaited them the next day. The next morning came soon enough._

_A loud rapping on the door apartment woke her. Terra jumped out of bed and ran towards the door of the apartment. Raul's door swung open to the side of her and he came dashing out as well, nearly colliding with his partner as he did. The stopped in front of the door and pulled it open, both breathless._

'_Who could it possibly be at this hour.' Terra wondered to herself. 'The only people who ever come around are Lex and Roc or messengers from the school.' Opening the door revealed it to be the latter of the two options. The messenger himself was out of breath. Without saying a word he shoved a piece of paper into her hand and ran off before either of the kids could ask any questions._

"_What was that all about?" Raul asked, poking his head into the hallway to watch as the messenger disappeared from sight._

"_Dunno. Let's find out." Terra replied. She closed the door then she and her partner walked to the kitchen table, where she opened the letter._

_Terra and Raul,_

_Lex and Roc left last night before I could give them some crucial information regarding the witch Ignis. I received word this morning that they left town last night so I wasn't able to tell them. I'm putting your witch hunting mission on hold because I need to send some stronger people to help them out. If they're not carefully, then they could very well go and loose their lives._

_Sincerely,_

_Shinigami-sama_

_The two companions groaned as they finished reading the letter._

"_Is he serious? What if this was just from Roc and Lex to keep us from beating our witch before they get to theirs?" Raul speculated._

"_What's this?" Terra said to herself, looking inside the envelope._

_Terra pulled a second piece of paper from the envelope and unfolded it. A detailed map was drawn over its surface. "I don't think this is a joke, Raul." She replied. "We should probably head out as soon as possible if Shinigami-sama actually sent this. This witch is strong enough that he would worry about Roc and Lex."_

"_Didn't he just tell us to stay put though?" Raul asked, taking the map and looking at it._

_Terra shrugged. "Why else would he send it if he didn't want us to go after them?" Her partner nodded in agreement. It was decided. They would go after Lex and Roc._

_The two each ate breakfast and Terra prepared and extra bag of supplies that they might need on their journey. Once they were ready they headed out the door and went to the train station. The train ride they were on was much shorter than the one that they had endured the previous day and they had arrived at their destination by noon. The train dropped them off in a small town and departed. From there they would have to walk a little ways before they reached the spot where the witch was supposed to live._

_***Back in the Death Room***_

"_Spirit, have you seen that map I drew for the teachers who were supposed to be going to save Lex and Roc?" Shinigami asked. "I was sure that I left that note here somewhere around here." He said to himself, scratching his head._

"_The map? Oh, I put that in the letter that you just sent out a little while ago. Why?" The death scythe replied absent-mindedly._

"_YOU WHAT?"_

_Spirit fell backwards, surprised by Shinigami-sama's sudden outburst._

"_THAT LETTER WAS GOING TO TWO KIDS! THE MAP WAS SUPPOSED TO BE GOING TO A RESCUE TEAM!"_

_Well things just got interesting, didn't they?_

_***Back in the town***_

_They stepped off onto the train platform and waited for it to leave. 'Strange. The entire station is empty.' Terra thought to herself. An uneasy feeling was creeping up her spine. It only grew as they wandered through the town, which appeared to be completely empty and devoid of life. They reached the far side of the town and she felt her heart drop into her stomach. The houses near the edge of the deserted village were covered in deep scorch marks._

"_Raul…" She whispered. Her partner nodded and transformed into a katana. She tensed and started walking towards the edge of the forest that separated her from the location where the witch's house was supposed to be located. Something did not feel right about the place. Slowly, she crept through the undergrowth. It seemed like forever as she stepped carefully through the forest, trying to move as silently as a ghost. A clearing came slowly into view and she could feel the strange aura growing stronger. She stopped out just outside the clearing so that she was still hidden safely under the intertwining folds of the trees._

"_Can you feel that?" Raul whispered. She nodded in response, also feeling a strange overbearing feeling emanating from the place. She looked around the clearing and she felt her heart drop again. Arrows were scattered across the yard. Many of them had been broken off at the shaft._

"_Proceed with caution." She instructed. She stepped of the tree line. From inside the hut there came the voices of her friends yelling, which was drowned out by a tremendous roar. She forgot the words she had said but a few moments before and charged towards the door with the intent of slicing it down. Whoever was inside was torturing her friends! They were in trouble!_

"_What are you doing?" Raul yelled at her, but she did not heed his warning. Before she could reach the door though, she was knocked back. A whip of flames had burst through the house, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the house, and knocking the girl backwards off of her feet._

"_Terra!"_

"_I'm all right." She snarled through gritted teeth. She pushed herself back up to her feet, picking up the sword that had fallen next to her. She turned back towards the house. Something large and hidden by smoke was stirring inside of it. The sound of her friends' yelling echoed from the house again, but before she could charge again Roc and Lex leapt from the hole that the fire had created. Both of them were covered with burn marks and their clothes had been singed. Their eyes grew wide as they saw her._

"_What are you doing here?" Roc cried at her as he caught sight of the girl._

"_RUN!" Lex roared._

_But she did not run. Instead she squared her shoulders and took a defensive position. The two boys ran to where she was standing before collapsing on the ground, thoroughly out of breath. Something was moving in the smoke behind them. From out of it a small figure appeared, whom she assumed to be the witch Ignis. The witch had a true look of delight on her face. She caught sight of the girl and her face spread into an even wider grin, stretching her face so that it resembled a gargoyle's wicked grin._

"_Fyre! Get them!"_

_The smoke behind the witch began to swell and flow out of the house, completely demolishing the remaining bits of wall. A deep rumble came from within the cloud and a dark shadow rose up from it. The smoke took form, as if it were being sucked in by an invisible vacuum. The black dragon reared its head and let out a screaming roar. Terra charged forwards a few steps and prepared to attack._

"_Wait!" Lex yelped. "It's just a kid!"_

"_What do you me-" Before she could finish the dragon's tail caught her in the stomach and sent her flying backwards._

"_IT'S JUST A KID! THE WITCH TURNED THE KID INTO A DRAGON!" Roc choked. "He's a weapon and I think that he may be from the academy, but I've never seen him before!"_

"_Then how do we beat it?" Raul roared back._

_The dragon was advancing on their friends. Terra sprung to her feet again, ignoring the sharp pain in her ribs as she did so. A small trickle of blood rolled down from her mouth. Without a second thought she charged forwards again. She dodged the dragon's tail and swung the sword at it. Kid or not, it was a dragon and it was threatening her friends!_

"_Terra! Wait!" Lex yelled._

_Raul, who had always been able to cut through anything, simply bounced off the dragon's tough hide. She swung the sword again to no avail. Before she could make a third attack, the dragon caught her with one of its large paws and knocked her backwards as if she were a fly. She felt a sharp pain as she landed. Blood was flowing from the place on her side where the dragon's claws had dug through her skin._

"_TERRA!" Raul roared. He quickly transformed back into a human, but keeping one of his arms transformed into a deadly katana blade. He stood up to protect his meister, but was not aside by another swipe of the dragon's great paw._

"_Finish her. I have no interest in studying any of them any more." The witch said to the dragon, turning away from the fight. "Kill them all." With those words said, the witch disappeared in a flash of light. The dragon moved towards Terra, its jaws open wide as if he meant to swallow his next meal whole._

_She could no longer move. Her ribs where definitely broken and a pool of blood was beginning to form from the wound in her side. She flinched and closed her eyes, waiting for the dragon's jaws to close around her._

"_TERRA!"_

_Many things happened at once within the next few moments. There was a loud crashing noise as something came thundering through the trees. Incoherent and muffled voices joined the battle in a series of war cries. The dragon let out another terrifying roar and stumbled backwards. Finally, she was drenched in something. She opened her eyes and all that she could see was red._

"_ROC!"_

_The boy fell to the ground, a gaping wound smashed across his body._

"_You're our friend, Terra. We love you. The three of us would do anything for you." The boy gagged, managing a weak smile. "Be strong, be brave. We'll always be here to protect you."_

"_ROC!" She cried again, but she couldn't move. Tears were streaming down her face. Something out of her vision was driving the dragon back. She couldn't see. Everything was fading. Everything was black._

"_I'm so sorry Lex, I was unable to protect you. You're my best friend. Of all the meister I could have ended up with, I'm glad that it was you. Remember that one time when…"_

_Her eyes fluttered open slowly. Everything was white. She closed her eyes again and groaned. The light that was bouncing off the walls was unbearable._

"_So you're awake." A familiar voice gurgled._

_She opened her eyes again, this time waiting for the room to come into focus. Slowly, the familiar sight of the Shibusen infirmary came into view. Her ribcage had been wrapped tightly under a large amount of bandages. Her side throbbed slightly as she remembered the razor claws slicing through it. She turned her head slightly to the right and in the direction of the voice. To the bed in her left was Lex. He looked worse for the wear too. His head had been bandaged and one of his eyes was covered. She instantly remembered what had happened._

"_Where's Roc?" She snapped. The sudden shock of air caused her body to convulse and cough, invoking another small trickle of blood to seep from the edge of her mouth. She wiped it away with the sheet _

_Lex didn't say anything. He turned his head to look up at the blank ceiling. She felt her heart jump into her throat, making it impossible for her breath. She gasped for air. Hot tears streamed down her face and her whole body shuddered with her sobbing breath. She turned to face Lex in surprise._

_A roar of anguish escaped the fallen weapon's meister. The sound broke her heart, shattered it into a million pieces. She turned to see that tears were rolling down his face too. The two of them cried until their throats hurt and their tears had run dry._

"_Do you know where Raul is?" She finally managed to whisper. Her throat was raw from crying. She couldn't take it anymore. She had to know. Her breath froze as she waited for his response._

"_To my right." Lex managed weakly. "I think I heard the nurse say that he's in a coma, but he should be fine eventually."_

_She felt the weight on her chest lift slightly. After a long silence she finally spoke again. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault. We got a note from Death and we thought he wanted us to go and…if I hadn't-" She stumbled over the words, but Lex cut in before she could finish._

"_It's not your fault." He said reassuringly. "In fact, if it hadn't been for you I'd probably be dead now to." He wanted to say thanks, but somehow felt that it would only the girl even more. "There was someone else in here earlier, another patient. I didn't get a good look at him, though."_

"_I wonder who it could've been." Terra wondered aloud. "How long have you been awake anyways?" She asked, turning back towards her friend._

"_Only a few hours." He sighed._

_She remembered the words that had floated to her through the darkness. "I think Roc wanted me to tell you-" Again Lex cut her off mid-sentence._

"_I know. I heard everything." He said sadly. "I've got a plan though." His face brightened up at the words, as if he knew something she did not. "I think I'm going to become a teacher."_

_The news shocked her. They were still really young and he already had that kind of a plan? "Why?" The words had blurted from her mouth before she could stop them._

_He smiled at her reaction. "I'll never be able to fight again with my eye and I don't want what happened to us to ever happen to anyone else again. I don't think I could go through fighting with any other partner, so I guess I'll just have to teach." He reasoned. "Besides, it was some of the teachers who came and saved us. Them and some other people on Death's behalf."_

'_So that's who came crashing through the trees.' She remembered. Before they could resume their conversation, someone pushed the door open._

"_Oh good. You're already awake." The nurse sighed. "Terra, Death wanted to see you in the Death Room if you were feeling up to it." She slowly sat up and swung her feet over the edge of the bed. The first thing she realized was that her chest felt like it was being crushed by the sudden readjustment and the second thing that she noticed was that she was no longer wearing her blood-soaked clothes, but had some how gotten into a set of her clean ones. She slowly stood up. Her head was banging, but whatever Death had to say was probably important. She waved at Lex on her way out, who smiled, and promised that she would come back to talk with him once she heard what Death had to say._

_She was surprised when the nurse grabbed another student from the hallway before leading them to the Death Room. The walk to the Death Room seemed so much longer than she remembered. No one talked._

"_Are you sure this is a good idea, lord Death? Of all the people that they could have been matched up with this would have been my last option."_

"_Oh, have some confidence in them Spirit. What's the worst that can happen?"_

_Spirit avoided thinking about the worst that could happen. The doors swung open and the nurse ushered the two children in before turning and leaving. Terra cast a quick questioning glance at the other student, who she had never seen before. He wasn't paying attention so she turned back to look at Death, who appeared to be waiting eagerly for them._

"_Ah good! You're both awake!" Death greeted them. "Unfortunately, Terra, you need to be assigned a substitute partner until Raul recovers._

"_So why have you called me here Death? You found me a new partner?" Terra asked, ignoring the other student entirely. She had decided that she didn't like him. Something about the boy made her uneasy._

"_Yes. Terra, meet your new partner Caelo. Caelo, meet your new partner Terra." Death said, gesturing between the two students, who had turned to look at each other. Both of them wore looks of distaste as they looked at the other. The boy had black hair and dark eyes. He glowered back at her._

"_I've never seen you before. What class are you in?" She asked the boy suspiciously._

"_Oh! Caelo's not in any classes yet. He only got here yesterday. He's the one that was cursed by the witch. He's the dragon." The end of his words were completely drowned out by the two students' roars of outrage and defiance._

"_TO HELL I'D WORK WITH HIM!" Terra roared back at Shinigami-sama almost instantly Rage instantly filled up inside of her. "There's absolutely no way I'm working with that stupid dragon!" She yelled, rounding on him._

"_THE FEELING'S MUTUAL." He snarled back. "Why don't you just go cry to your precious friends?"_

"_BECAUSE YOU KILLED THEM!" She roared, lunging at the dragon. These actions caught him off guard and the dragon stumbled back._

"_THAT. IS. ENOUGH." Death boomed. He caught the enraged girl in one hand and the snarling dragon in the other, preventing them from tearing each other apart. "You two are working together and that is final! I don't want to hear another word about it!" He set the two down and they glared at each other, but made no move to start attacking each other for the time being. "Terra, I want you to keep in mind that his actions were not his own. He was cursed by a witch. His soul has been sewn into a dragon's soul. He was unable to control it."_

_It made sense to her, but she was still too mad to accept the words. She mauled over them. In control or not, this was the person indirectly responsible for Roc's death. No. Roc's death was the witch's fault, but this boy did play a part in it._

_Her mind was a mess as she tried to sort the situation out. Finally, after a few long minutes Terra's voice broke the tense silence. "So what kind of a weapon are you anyway?" She growled at the dragon. The dragon gave a quiet growl, but did not dare retort in front of Shinigami himself._

_In a flash he transformed into a heavy golden hammer. In overall height the weapon was still taller than her. Runes and characters were drawn across the face of the hammer. The shaft was roughly five and a half feet long, making it ideal for longer-range attacks, but worse for defensive and blocking. It was much different from the katana that she was used to fighting with, which was only about four feet long and excellent for both offense and defense._

_She tentatively reached out a hand and tried to grab up the hammer. The weight immediately hit as her hand closed around the shaft and her other hand sprung up to catch the weapon and keep it from falling. It was not al all like the evenly balanced katana that she was used to and could wield with one hand. The hammer was also extremely heavy compared to what she was used to. Mustering her strength, she tried to swing it. She nearly lost her grip on it as the hammer swung in a clumsy arc. The katana had slid through the air easily, cutting it into two and anything in its path. The hammer however, hit the air and was sent flying of course._

"_You think that's how you swing a hammer?" Caelo snapped. "I though that you were at least supposed to be a little bit strong. Looks like I was wrong. You just survive off others' strength then?"_

_The girl turned to snarl at the face that had appeared on the side of the hammer. She picked it up again and swung it in an arc again. This time instead of being stopped by the air, it battered the wind out of the way and landed a heavy blow on an invisible enemy. She turned to look at the face in the hammer. Caelo was no longer frowning, but had a look of mild interest about him. Upon catching her eye, he quickly faded from view._

"_Not bad..." He growled. "Try an uppercut."_

"_Don't tell me what to do." She growled back. She reset her stance before swinging the hammer upwards in an attack. The dragon-weapon continued to snap directions at her, some of which she listened to. Whenever she didn't listen to him he would let an annoyed growl escape from his mouth, which she ignored._

_She swung the hammer through the air a few more times until she had found a steady rhythm of attacking and then immediately switching to defense. Her speed was reduced because of the burden, but she could still manage to get a few swift attacks in. After the last arc she set the hammer down on its face, walking away a few steps before turned back towards Death. The weapon slipped back into human form and also turned his gaze towards Death._

"_I think that will do. I just have one more thing to tell you." Death said, his voice back to being upbeat. "Because we don't have anywhere for Caelo to stay and because he has no money, he will be staying with you. You have an extra room in your apartment, do you not?" He asked Terra._

"_ABSOLUTELY NOT!" The two snapped back in unison. The two turned to look at each and snarled at each other. Before either of them could move Death started to speak again and they cautiously turned to listen to him._

"_It is settled then. Caelo will stay with you until we can get something else sorted out. Plus Raul is still in the infirmary, so you should have plenty of space." Death decided. "Off you go now."_

_The two left the Death Room, glaring at each other until they were in were in the open hall outside. Once they were in the hallway, Terra cut away from Caelo and ran off in the direction of the infirmary._

'_This is such a pain. He was going to have to live and be partnered up with this stupid girl for who knows how long. He would have rather taken the punishment of being sealed back in the prison vault. What a pain.' He thought to himself. He looked up to realize that he had subconsciously wandered out into the courtyard of the school. It was thoroughly deserted under the light of the afternoon sun; school had already adjourned and no one had any intentions of hanging around. He sighed and sat down, leaning his back against one of the pillars to the school. He closed his eyes and waited. _

_***Back in the infirmary***_

_At Terra's return, Lex started firing off questions. She explained the entire story and he sat listening patiently, holding back his questions. When she had finally finished, she had expected Lex to be angry or upset. He was quite the opposite._

"_What a cruel world it is that we live in," Lex sighed, running a hand absent-mindedly through his hair._

"_You're not mad at him?" She asked in surprise. "He killed-"_

"_I'm well aware of what he did." Lex snapped. Terra was silenced in an instant. "However, it was not his choice to be experimented on and used as a weapon by that witch. I'm mad at him, but I forgive him. I'm more mad at myself."_

"_But it's not your fault it's-"_

"_No one's fault." Lex sighed, leaning back against his pillow. "Terra, I can't tell you what to think, but blaming this kid for Roc's death, no matter how much of a jerk he is, is not the answer. I want you to do your best." He said, looking her directly in the eye._

_She nodded. They talked for a little while longer until the sky was golden outside and they were both exhausted. Lex explained that they wanted to keep him there for another day to make sure that his eye healed properly. With that she left._

_***Outside the School***_

_He wasn't sure what he was waiting for. His nose and his ears told him nearly everything that his eyes could. He heard as a bird fluttered to the ground and scratched its beak against the ground, searching for food. He could hear the dim din of the city as people bustled through its streets below. He was tired. He could smell the different scents of dinner as they wafted up through the evening air. He was hungry. He could hear the sound of soft footsteps as they padded over the flagstones. A familiar scent hit his sensitive nose._

_His eyes snapped open as Terra walked up to where he was waiting._

"_Why are you still here?" She snapped._

"_Well I don't know where to go." The dragon boy replied snarkily, rolling his eyes._

"_Come on then," The girl growled back, not stopping for him to stand up or waiting for his reply._

_So you know, I cried while writing this._

_On a happier note, this is only the beginning! A new adventure!_

_Questions? Comments? Concerns?_

_Leave 'em for me in the reviews!_

_Cheers,_

_:D_


	9. Chapter 8

Time to continue the journey down memory lane! The dark start to Caelo and Terra's past, whose relationship is nothing like it is now.

**Disclaimer: ** I don't own Soul Eater.

"_Come on then," The girl growled back, not stopping for him to stand up or waiting for his reply._

_He followed her down the steps and into the city below. Her apartment was located fairly close to the school, only three blocks away from the steps leading up to it. She ignored him the entire way there, not that he minded, until she finally stopped at the threshold of the door leading into her apartment. She paused for a moment, as if considering her options one more time before pushing the door open._

_The apartment was a spacious one. Terra had been fond of it ever since she had moved in. She liked how the living room, dining room, and kitchen bar all connected and made the apartment seem open. Four doors lined a short hallway that broke off from the main part of the dining room: her room, Raul's room, a restroom, and the spare room the kept in case of guests. Though the spare room wasn't in any way prepared for someone to live in it. It had just bee used as a library and music room. Large stacks of books, CDs, and a variety of different instruments called that room home. A bed had been wedged into one of the corners. The only other pieces of furniture in the room were an overly full bookshelf, a stool, and a plush armchair. Of all the rooms, this one was definitely her favorite. On the weekends she would curl up inside, reading and playing music for hours on end. Occasionally, Raul would sit in and listen as she practiced. The living room would have to be her second favorite room, due to the fact that it aside from being home to the couch and the TV, it was also where she housed a baby grand piano, which was her pride and joy._

_Begrudgingly, she led Caelo to the music room. Of all the people to let into her sanctuary, it had to be a dragon. "Don't touch anything." She immediately instructed. "I'll start moving my stuff out of here this weekend." She figured that she could fit most of the instruments in the living room, but she disliked the idea of leaving them in the open space and where they could be seen through the window. She turned to look at the dragon boy. She was surprised to see him staring around the room in wonder. He noticed her staring and his expression quickly vanished to neutral again._

"_Not bad," He muttered. "And don't worry," he added, catching her eye again, "I won't break anything." Despite the fact that he hated his new partner, he couldn't dream of wrecking anything in the room. The instruments were beautiful indeed and more than a few books sitting around the room caught his eye. Out of the instruments that were put away carefully around the room, the only one he knew how to play was the trumpet. He looked up to see the girl watching him. She glanced quickly at the trumpet and then back at him, obviously having guessed his thoughts._

"_Dinner will be in half and hour if you want it." Terra added before disappearing back through the door towards the kitchen. Caelo slumped down in the armchair that was facing the window and closed his eyes. The fading sun shone inside and danced off the backs of his eyelids. In some distant room he could hear as Terra bustled around the kitchen, preparing an unseen meal. After a while he could hear sizzling as the food began to cook and a good smell wafted into the room. He faded into thought._

_*Back in the kitchen*_

"_That idiot," Terra muttered to herself. No matter how hard she tried he couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't believe that it was his fault that Roc had died. It hurt. Blaming him made it feel less like it was her fault. If she had only stopped to think before charging and not gotten caught then Roc would still be alive. It was all her fault._

_She sighed sadly and sat down to eat her food, which had finished cooking. She was surprised that after the long day the boy didn't want to eat. Maybe it was a dragon thing. She got up from her chair and wandered back towards his room. She had told him dinner would be in half an hour? Yes. She slowly pushed the door open, trying to be as silent as possible._

_Sure enough, the dragon boy was fast asleep in the armchair that she had spent so many hours reading in. She watched him a moment, waiting to see if he would stir at the sound of the door opening. He did nothing. 'Idiot,' she thought to herself._

_*Later*_

_He could remember nothing before the incident at the witch's house. He only remembered having his soul feel like it was on fire and the fire dying a little as a dark figure knocked him out. Next thing he knew, he was waking up in fresh clothes in the school's infirmary. He couldn't remember any other part of his life: no childhood, no family, nothing. He felt that he had known he was a hammer before the incident; something about that form did remind and comfort him in a way. His senses also seemed sharper after waking up in Shibusen. He sighed. All of this effort trying to remember was giving him a headache._

_He opened his eyes and his heart jumped into his throat. Two things immediately caught his attention. Firstly, the sun had completely set and he was sure that it was well past dinnertime. In response, his stomach gave a loud objection. Secondly, he had been covered in a blanket, which he had not remembered falling asleep with. He got up, setting the blanket on the chair, and crept to the door. He didn't have to turn on the lights. He could see well enough with his senses enhanced by the dragon soul. He slid out into the hall and started walking towards the other end of the hall. The door to Terra's room was shut, but he could faintly hear the girl's steady breathing as she slept. The door to her old partner's room was open and he poked his head in curiously. He was surprised to find that it was much tidier than the room he was staying in. The only things inside were a bed, vanity of what he assumed to be clothes, and a few books stacked in the corner. Caelo slipped back into the hallway and proceeded towards the kitchen, which was deserted._

'_Great. I'm going to starve if I don't get something to eat.' He thought to himself. He was about to turn back to his room when a faint smell caught his nose. He looked over the counter and found what had caught his attention. An untouched bowl of fried rice had been left out on the counter with silverware. Next to it was a letter._

"_You didn't come to dinner and I assumed that you would be hungry. This is a one-time thing so you had better not get used to it. If you're still hungry there are more leftovers in the fridge, but if you touch my stash of coffee and tea I'll kill you."_

_-Terra_

_P.S. The dishes go in the sink when you're done with them._

'_Ok, perhaps this new partner wasn't __**all**__ bad.' He sat at the kitchen table to eat his food. Even with it being cold, it still tasted delicious. He nearly had a second helping, but decided against it. He was too tired. He put his dishes in the sink and crept back to his room. As he passed Terra's room he heard a brief disruption in her breathing and he froze. A few moments passed in silence before her breathing returned to normal. Wait. Why had he frozen? He didn't care whether or not he woke the stupid girl up._

_After reassuring himself he continued down the hall to his room. He slunk through the darkness and shut the door behind him. He considered sleeping in the armchair, but that would probably only result in a poor night's sleep and a sore back. Sighing, he pulled the covers back from the bed and curled up under them. He was surprised to find that they smelled of books, like paper. He closed his eyes and listened to the soft sound of Terra's breathing coming from the other room. It did not take long until the sound faded and he drifted off to sleep._

_He was surprised when he woke up before Terra. His stomach was growling greedily. He sighed and slid out of the bed, stretching as he did so. The sun was barely peaking over the edge of the sky. He silently crept down the hall and back to the kitchen. 'I wonder what she had in the fridge that I can use for breakfast,' He though to himself. He pulled it open and immediately decided what to make. There wasn't much, but he felt he could make a decent breakfast from it. He pulled out a few eggs, some cheese, and I package of ham. This would do. He also pulled the coffee out and made a pot of that, unsure if it would appease or enrage his name roommate. He didn't care, though. He needed coffee in the morning as well. (Though to be on the safe side he decided to hold off on having any until the girl had come and taken some first.) Not long after he threw all three ingredients into a pan and started to cook them did he hear soft footsteps. They wandered around for a few minutes in the other room before he finally heard a door open._

_Terra was already changed into her clothes for the day when she stepped into the kitchen. She eyes him cautiously and he returned the look, dividing the meal in half and slipping it onto two separate plates. The girl walked past him and turned her attention to the pot of coffee that was waiting on the counter. She pulled two mugs down without saying anything and filled them both up. She took a sip out of one and finally spoke._

"_Not bad," She muttered. He immediately recognized it as the exact thing he had said the evening before. He walked over to the table and set the two plates down on opposite ends. Terra produced two forks from a drawer and placed them on the table, setting the second cup of coffee down in front of him as well._

"_We've got school soon," Terra remarked absent-mindedly, looking at the clock on the wall. "Thanks for the breakfast."_

"_Now we're even for dinner." He growled back, not looking up from his meal._

_The two ate the rest of their meal in silence. Terra left him a backpack and some supplies, telling him to keep it until they had some money from a mission to buy him his own stuff. She also, begrudgingly, agreed to take him after school to get some new clothes._

_The walk to school its self did not take long at all. Terra made them leave early so that she could swing by the infirmary to see Lex. Though once they got there they only found out that he had been released already and had gone home for rest. She popped in to check on Raul, who was still asleep. With their spare time, Terra took him around the school and showed him where their classrooms where. He didn't pay too much attention because he was apparently enrolled in all the same classes as her so he could just follow her between classes._

'_This jerk,' Terra thought to herself. 'He's not even paying attention.'_

_School eventually started and Caelo found that his plan was not so easily accomplished. It was hard to keep track of the girl between the sea of bobbing heads. He lost her, only barely managing to make it to class by using his heightened smell to search for the familiar scent of coffee, which the girl smelled like._

"_Who is that? I've never seen him before."_

"_Is he a student?"_

"_I dunno. Is he new here?"_

"_Hey! Isn't that the dragon we heard about?"_

"_I heard that he has a demon inside of him."_

"_Why are they letting him walk around the school?!"_

"_Is that safe?"_

"_Does Death know about this? Shouldn't he be locked up?"_

"_I heard he killed Lex's partner, Roc, and put Lex and Raul in the hospital."_

"_Jeez, Terra's going to kill him for hurting her friends."_

_These comments followed him all throughout the halls whenever he passed. He heard them whispering off to the side. He tried to flatten himself against the shadows, but where ever he went the people would part around him. By lunchtime the entire school seamed know the rumors. In every class he had sunk into the chair next to Terra, who actually did not seem mind. He silently thanked her._

_Terra herself was sick of the whole thing. People would keep stopping her in the hall to ask about the whole ordeal or why she was hanging out with the dragon-weapon. At lunchtime she was not amused to find that a small stack of letters had been stuffed into her locked with requests to be her new weapon. She decided that she needed some air and went to escape to the courtyard._

_She walked outside into the sunlight and was surprised to see familiar figure waving at her from across the courtyard. She hurried down the steps and walked over to where _

_Lex was waiting. He looked a lot better compared to the last time she had seen him. The only signs remaining of his wounds were pale, silvery scars. Even his eye, which had been injured in the battle, appeared to be functioning properly again. He gave her a weak smile as she walked up._

"_Classes going well?" He asked. "Getting along with dragon boy?"_

"_He's not being much of a help in that area." She grumbled back._

_Lex's face turned serious. "I asked if __**you**__ were trying to get along with him. I know that it's impossible for you two to work together if he doesn't do his part too, but that doesn't mean that you should stop trying."_

"_I know." The girl sighed, hanging her head. "I'll try."_

"_Good!" Lex said, his face breaking into a smile. He lifted a hand and ruffled the girl's hair, laughing as she jumped back instinctively and fixed it before approaching him again._

"_So what have you been up to?" She asked Lex._

"_Nothing much lately. Shinigami-sama is arranging for a teacher to teach me to me to be a teacher." The two laughed at the statement. "So until that gets sorted out I was told to just lie low for a little while and recover."_

_Lex's eyes flittered above her shoulder and she turned to see Caelo slinking over in their direction._

"_I'd better get going, little sis." Lex said. "And try to behave yourself."_

"_When has that ever worked?" Terra smiled back._

_Lex leaned forward and kissed the girl's forehead before walking away. He smiled and nodded at Caelo as he passed the other boy. He could have sworn that the other boy nodded back._

'_I think they'll be just fine," Lex thought to himself. 'Just fine, indeed!'_

_Terra nodded at Caelo as he walked over. She was still smiling from her talk with Lex._

"_Who was that?" He asked cautiously. It seemed that Terra was the only one in the entire school at the moment who wasn't either furious or terrified of him. Just because he had the dragon soul didn't mean he was completely not a human, but that was how everyone seemed to see it._

"_That was Lex." She smiled. "He's a good friend of mine."_

"_Is he-," but he choked and couldn't finish the sentence._

"_Yeah. He was Roc's partner." She finished for him. There was a silence between them for a while._

"_Why did he smile at me?" Caelo finally asked. He had killed the guy's partner and he could still face the dragon-weapon without hate or resentment showing?_

_The question caught Terra slightly off guard. She had expected a snide or witty comment, but not a confused question. "Lex and Roc where friends for years, practically inseparable. Don't get him wrong. Lex's is tortured on the inside." She replied seriously, the smile fading from her face. "But he's not the kind of person to bear something like this against you. You weren't yourself after all."_

_Caelo nodded, but his stomach felt uneasy. He could remember the attack. Everything had been muffled and the peoples' faces shaded, but he had caught glimpses of them. He remembered Lex's face. It made him uneasy, as if the other boy knew what he remembered._

"_Come on, we should be getting back to class soon." She said, interrupting his thoughts. She made as if to move, but then stopped, glaring. For a moment he thought she was mad at him again, but then he realized that she was actually staring at a point over his shoulder. He turned to see what she was looking at. A small group of students was shuffling towards them, ginning maliciously._

"_Well, well, well, if it isn't the famous katana meister. Where's your little sword, Ralph?" The leader of the group snickered. Caelo decided that he didn't like the boy. Did not know why. The other boy was nearly a foot taller than both Terra and himself, but he appeared to be the same age._

"_It's Raul." Terra replied coolly. "What do you want, Bone?"_

_The leader, Bone ignored her question. "Who's this?" He asked, turning towards Caelo. "Got yourself a new pet already, earth girl*? That's bad form." He smirked. "What do you think Rip?" He asked one of his cronies._

"_Ha! __**This **__is the fabled dragon? He barely looks like he could put up a fight!" Rip teased. "See!" He reached out a hand ruffled the dragon-weapon's hair. "He's no more harmful than a puppy!"_

_Caelo growled, pulling his face into a snarl. He took a step forward, but was stopped by a hand clasping his shoulder. He whipped around to see Terra. Her face was cold, but her rage was not directed at him. She shot him a quick glance that whispered, 'they're not worth it.' His face fell slightly and he took a step back. He felt her hand fall from his shoulder._

"_Look! She's already managed to train him like a dog! What do you think about that cloud boy? Going to growl at us again?" Bone teased. "Roc was really killed by this pathetic excuse of a-"_

_Terra's fist collided with the boy's face before he could finish speaking. He stumbled back and his cronies caught him. He shook them off and turned to glare at Terra. "You're going to regret that you-"_

_It was Caelo's turn to interrupt him. He drowned out the end of the boy's words by letting out a roar that caused the whole courtyard to jump and turn to look at them._

"_RIP!" The boy had already transformed and fallen into Bone's hand before he could finish speaking. He was also a sword meister, though unlike the katana Terra had used, the boy's sword was curved like a pirate's __scimitar._

"_Caelo, could you transform please?" Terra requested. She sounded calm, but Caelo could hear the slight quiver in her voice and see the rage in her eyes._

"_No need to ask." He smirked. "I've been itching to teach these guys a lesson." He transformed into a hammer. _

_Terra reached out and caught him. Unlike the first time when they fought together, this time when she caught him in one hand she found that she could hold him fairly easily. He seemed lighter and easier to swing. "Let's go." She growled to the dragon, ignoring the crowd of onlookers that was gathering around them. Among them was a teacher, so the fight was legal._

_The two meisters started pacing in a circle, maintaining the distance between them. Each was waiting for the other to strike first._

"_Ha! What would Roc say if he saw you give up your partner so easily? I heard that Lex couldn't get anyone else to be his partner." Bone jeered._

_Terra felt the color rise in her face as she grew angrier. She broke the circle and swung at Bone. He dodged the attack and sliced at her sideways. She blocked the blow with the hammer's shaft, barely getting it there in time. Bone was faster than she remembered and she was slower than she used to be, still not quite used to fighting with the hammer._

"_Oi! You're getting sloppy." Caelo snapped at her. "Let me lead for a while." She reluctantly let him._

_He was surprised that the girl had actually listened to him; it was a first. Bone swung the sword in a downward arc at them. "Dodge it and trap the blade under the face of the hammer." He instructed. The girl did exactly as he instructed. Though once she had trapped the blade she leaned forward and threw another punch at her opponent's face. It caught him square in the nose and he stumbled backwards, freeing his sword from under the hammer. He clutched one hand to his nose, which was now bleeding profusely and looking as if it were broken. "Nice one." Caelo growled. Terra nodded in response, not taking her eyes off her opponent. "Finish him off already." He growled._

_Bone lunged forward again and this time she caught the blade with the face of the hammer, parrying it to the side and leaving Bone open. She twisted the hammer and swung it. It caught the boy in the stomach, knocking the air out of him._

_Bone fell back to the ground and dropped his sword. They were beaten. Caelo transformed back into a human._

"_Not bad." He growled at Terra. The girl smiled slightly._

"_Not bad yourself. Come on. We need to go to class now." She turned around and started to walk back towards the school. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as something whizzed past them. The loud clash of metal on metal resounded and she was thrown to the ground. She turned to see Bone back on his feet, swinging Rip. Caelo had blocked his attack and knocked her to the ground. Something was off about how he was reacting._

_Caelo had barely managed to black the second swing aimed for Terra. He growled angrily and felt his skin burning. He didn't like the girl, but he also didn't hate her like he hated the two standing in front of him. His head felt foggy, as if something was muffling his senses. His vision flashed._

_His focus came back into view and he saw Bone's terrified face staring up at him. The boy swung the sword at him, but he blocked it with his heavily scaled arm. His heavily scaled arm? He hadn't realized he had transformed into a dragon._

"_CAELO!"_

_He whipped around in the direction of the voice. He found her. Terra was standing with her teeth bared up at him. Something in the back of his mind immediately wanted him to respond, feeling threatened. Something was telling him to attack. No. Why would he attack the girl?_

_The teacher pushed through the crowd, which had started to scatter and was running at the dragon. "I'm going to get to dissect you. This should be interesting," He chuckled._

"_No!" Terra roared, jumping in between the two and standing dangerously close to the dragon. She turned on the dragon again. "CAELO! What the HELL do you think you're doing?!" She roared at the dragon. He seemed confused by her words. Seeing the black dragon was like being stabbed all over again. It was taking all of her courage to stay where she was without her legs shaking too much._

_The dragon dropped its head curiously until it was level with her face. She could smell the sulfur on his breath. In its golden eye she could see her scared reflection._

"_Caelo, calm down." She said slowly, trying to keep her voice from shaking. "It's going to be alright, but you need to calm down." She stood and waited as the dragon stared at her as if it where processing what she had said._

_In a bright flash of fire the dragon vanished and Caelo fell to the ground. His skin was burned in some places and he was panting as if he had run a marathon._

"_Pity." The teacher sighed as the dragon turned back into a student. "We need to get him to the infirmary."_

_Lex watched from across the courtyard as the professor picked up the dragon boy and stared to carry him to the infirmary, the small form of Terra bobbing behind him. All of the other students had returned to their classes._

_It had taken all of his will power to keep from running between the dragon and the girl. 'She's growing,' he smiled. She had proved herself. They may be just fine after all._

Just to be clear if I didn't make it clear in the story, Lex is not Terra's actual older brother, but she treats him that way and he acts as such. In fact, she considered both him and Roc to be like her brothers and they thought of her as their little sister.

Author's note: * - Bone refers to Terra as 'earth girl' because 'terra, terrae' is Latin for earth. He refers to Caelo as 'cloud boy' because his name comes from the word 'caelum, caeli' (which changed to masc. form would technically be caelus, but that sounded stupid so I changed it to caelo) which means cloud. Yay for Latin!

So how did you like the story?


	10. Chapter 9

So the dragon awakens! Right after Caelo and Terra were starting to get along, too. Will the dragon soul's awakening put a bump in their new relationship? How will she react after seeing the face of her friend's murderer again?

**Disclaimer: ** I don't own Soul Eater.

_His eyes opened slowly and he became aware of the familiar smell of the infirmary. It was dark, the moon visible out of the corner of his eye. His head was pounding and his arms felt like they were on fire. He looked down to see them covered in bandages. Slowly, he became aware of two other familiar smells. He raised his head to turn and see Terra and Raul. The girl was asleep in a chair between the two beds, her head drooping to one side and resting on a propped up arm. Raul was still as silent as ever. Ah, his fault again. He had lost control. He didn't know why. There was no intention in his heart to stay there and partner up with the girl._

_He stood up slowly, wincing slightly at the pain. As quietly as he could, he opened the window. A quick glance over his shoulder told him that he had succeeded in not waking up the meister of weapon. He felt the fresh night air splash against his face. He pulled himself up over the sill and out onto the steeply sloping roof of the building. The air called him. Flying off from here would be much too noticeable, though. He would have to get out of the city before flying off. Plus, if he were to loose control of the dragon before getting away, then everyone would be in trouble._

_Somehow he managed to find a way down from the roof. Once on the ground, he made a dash for the stairs and disappeared down into the city. It was not hard for him to slip through unnoticed. Even though he was not in any kind of trouble, he still stuck to the shadows and would hide himself whenever someone passed. He was not going to take any chances. It was slow business, but eventually he managed to make it to the outskirts of the city. He ended up in front of a sea of sand. In the distance he could see mountains, peeking theirs heads up. They became his destination._

_He felt the familiar tingling sensation as fire crept over his body. He felt a little light leaded from the transformation, but his senses remained clear. The two bat-like wings on his back extended and swept down in a great motion. Sand flew everywhere. He felt his heart drop into his stomach as he rocketed into the air. Higher and higher he went until the ground was a few hundred feet below him._

_It felt good to fly. As if nothing could catch him. He wheeled in the air and turned towards the mountains. He dashed through the air, wheeling and turning. He stomach felt strangely full, not of fire, but of something else. His mouth opened and it escaped before he knew what he was doing. A triumphant roar shattered the still night air. It shocked him and he locked his jaws, hoping that no one had been around to hear._

_The mountains were getting close now. He tried to fly faster. He was growing tired and his arms were beginning to burn again. He landed as soon as he got to the closest rocky ledge that was big enough for him to land on. Ina flash of fire he fell to the ground. His entire body was sore from flying and his skin prickled like it was still burning. The sun was beginning to rise in the distance. Without any protection he wouldn't last long once it had risen. He painfully raised himself up onto his feet and stumbled closer to the cliff face, collapsing once he was under the protective shade of an overhanging ledge. He closed his eyes and curled up, unable to get comfortable._

_His soul felt like it was on fire. It wavered like a flame in the wind. He was unnaturally hungry and tired. He just wanted to find a dark, quiet place to curl up and sleep._

_Images flashed through his mind. He was running through the streets, the houses on either side of him aflame. He ran down the streets, transforming his hand into a hammer's face to knock rubble out of his path. He was supposed to be searching for someone, but who? He could hear voices, but they faded one by one. He tried running towards them, but fire blocked his path. He turned to look around. Someone was hanging in the sky, lazily shooting flames down onto the burning city. She turned to look at him and grinned. "You'll do." Ignis whispered._

_*Back in the Infirmary*_

"_That idiot!" Terra roared, pacing up and down the room. "What did he think he as doing running off like that?"_

"_It is quite troublesome." Professor Stein said, adjusting the screw in his head. "We'll need to send a team after him to bring him back. Death wanted to keep an eye on him."_

"_I know a team that can help," the nurse who had been attending to Raul cut in. She had been listening silently for most of the conversation and had been the one to call Stein when Terra had discovered Caelo missing. Without waiting for either of the others to respond, she bustled out of the room, off in search of the normal team she sent when she needed something done._

"_I'm going too." Terra declared angrily. "And when we find him I'm going to kill him."_

"_I thought this was supposed to be a rescue and retrieve mission." A familiar voice drawled from behind her. She whipped around to see that the nurse had returned with a weapon-meister pair. She felt her angry rise as Bone and Rip stepped into the room. "Besides, we work alone."_

_The nurse must have noticed the look on her face because she quickly cut in. "These two are the best we have and they've helped me with many missions. They'll find Caelo and bring him back here."_

_Terra opened her mouth to object when something else happened. A low groan came from Raul's still body. The group of people turned on him and terra took a tentative step forward. Her partner's eyes were cracked open, surveying the room. A weak smile passed across his face._

"_Hey Terra, why the long face?" He managed weakly. Then in a more serious tone, "What happened? Why are we here? Did we beat the dragon?"_

_Her heart sank as she began to explain everything that had happened since her partner was knocked out. She had to stop halfway when she told Raul about what had happened to Roc. Once he finished raging and swearing revenge, she continued her story. She left out the fact that Caelo was actually the dragon and told Raul that he as a new student who was assigned as her temporary partner._

_Bone, tired of hearing the story for the hundredth time (it had been circling around the school for the past two days), nudged Rip and jerked his head towards the door. He was ready to leave and search for the missing dragon-weapon. Hopefully he didn't have his full strength back, so he couldn't have gone too far with his head start of a few hours._

_After a long morning of running around town and questioning more people than he could count, they finally found out that a large figure had been seen that morning flying out over the dunes towards the mountains._

"_Great, we're actually going to have to fight and take down this dragon." Bone snarled as he leaned against the wall that ran around the city. He looked to the mountains off in the distance. If there was ever a good place for a dragon to hide near Death City, it would have to be there._

"_Not to mention we're also going to have to find a way to get it back here and up to the school as well." Rip added._

_Bone sighed. Today was going to be a long day._

_The longest part of the day was the trek to the mountains. To his and Rip's relief, they found the dragon-weapon already asleep in human form. They had nearly missed him as he had been curled up in the shade pressed against the face of rocks. The team took the exhausted weapon between the two of them and started on the journey back to the city. It took them the better part of the day to carry him back. Despite their attempts to wake the dragon up so that they wouldn't have to carry him, he remained silent and unmoving._

_By the time they reached the Shibusen hospital it was well into the evening. Terra was still there. She had apparently spent the whole day there except for a short part of the day when she went to a meeting with Death. Lex was there too when they arrived. He had swung by to see how Raul was doing. However, the former meister left shortly after he and Rip arrived with Caelo, claiming he had some work to go and do._

_The nurse came in and thanked them before turning to tend to the sleeping dragon. He and Rip turned to leave._

"_Thanks."_

_He turned to see Terra smiling back at them._

"_Don't get used to it earth girl." He smiled back. "I was just doing my job. I have a reputation to keep up after all." Rip nodded next to him, but smiled back at the girl as well._

"_I don't know what your plans are for being a meister, but watch your back because we'll be challenging you to a fight again." He smirked._

"_I wouldn't have it any other way." She smirked back. With that, her two rivals turned and left the room._

_Caelo's eyes fluttered open again and he found himself staring at the ceiling of the infirmary for a third time. Had it all been a dream? No, the soreness he had was real. How had he gotten back here? He made a move to stand up, but was stopped by an unseen force that pinned one of his wrists down. He turned to see that it had been bound to the bedframe with a thick piece of rope. There was a loud shriek and he flinched. Something grabbed him around the chest and knocked the air from his lungs, causing his to gag and gasp for air._

"_Kya! Richard!"_

_The pressure released from his chest. The spots faded from in front of his eyes and he looked around. Seven people were standing around his bed. The first person he recognized was the professor who had supervised their fight with Bone and Rip. Stein was his name? That sounded correct. The next two people he saw were a real surprise. Bone and Rip where standing among the group, looking around the room with bored expressions on their faces. Bone caught his eye and nodded, and then he and his weapon left. Why had they been here? The next person who was there was the nurse whom he had seen working before. Finally his gaze found Terra, who was watching as if she expected him to run off again. So that's how he got back there. The next face he caught shocked him. Raul was standing beside his partner also looking at the dragon-weapon, but with an expression of interest and confusion. His eyes traveled to the last person. It was the girl that had screamed and hugged him. Who was she? She was staring back at him with a look of pure excitement on her face._

"_Richard! I've been looking everywhere for you!" The girl exclaimed. "Are you ready to go home? Everyone was so worried about you!"_

_That couldn't be possible. He remembered his city burning. He thought it was his home city. Who was waiting for him? _

"_Who are you?" He asked, unable to ever remember seeing the girl before._

_Sorry about it being a shorter chapter. The next one should be back up to the normal length. A lot of fluff and fillers were put into this chapter. Yay for cliffhanger! :)_

_Miscellaneous quote of no apparent reason: "To play a wrong to note is insignificant, but to play without passion is inexcusable." –Ludwig van Beethoven_


End file.
